UK charities launch Middle East Humanitarian Appeal

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is launching an “urgent” fundraising drive to help people “devastated” by the conflicts in the Middle East.

The DEC, which brings together 15 of the UK’s biggest aid charities including Oxfam, British Red Cross and ActionAid – says the scale of need is “overwhelming”.

It says people across Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region require food, shelter and medical care after fleeing their homes in search of safety – and donations will be matched by the UK government up to the first £10m.

The Middle East Humanitarian Appeal will feature across the BBC on 17 October, as well as on other broadcasters including Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

There has been intense conflict across the Middle East since 7 October last year, when Hamas gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages when the group launched a surprise assault on communities in southern Israel.

Since then, Israeli assaults on Gaza have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry, and war has spread to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Launching the campaign, the committee said the devastation caused by the conflicts meant thousands of people were dying from hunger and disease.

In Lebanon, where its government estimates 1.2 million people have been displaced, the DEC said “shelters are overwhelmed and hospitals are struggling to cope”.

In the West Bank, it said “water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure” have been damaged by “ongoing violence”.

In a statement, the DEC’s chief executive Saleh Saeed said member charities are already responding to the situation in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, but they “urgently need more funds to meet the huge levels of need”.

He also said the group was monitoring the situation in Israel, where there are “tens of thousands” of displaced people, and it would provide support “if significant unmet humanitarian needs are identified”.

Save the Children is a member of the DEC, and its humanitarian director Rachael Cummings recently returned from Gaza.

“The rate that people’s health is deteriorating is extraordinary… We are seeing increases in children with diarrhoea, jaundice, respiratory conditions,” she said.

Anneliese Dodds, minister of state for development, said: “Humanitarian support is urgently needed for the most vulnerable people. Charities play a crucial role in providing help to those most affected.”

She added: “That is why we are matching public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Middle East Humanitarian Appeal.”

The DEC has held emergency appeals for other conflicts and global catastrophes, such as the war in Ukraine and 2023’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.