Middle East Crisis: The Humanitarian Need

An alleyway in Gaza City. The entire 25-mile-long strip is more densely populated than Washington, D.C. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps began delivering relief supplies on Thursday to families displaced by continuing Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

The agency is distributing food supplies, blankets and mattresses to some 3,000 of the most vulnerable people in Kaifoun, a town east of Beirut where at least 14,000 people are taking shelter in "transit centers" - public schools and other municipal buildings. Normally a town of 5,000 people, Kaifoun has swelled to 35,000 to 40,000 people in the last week, town officials tell Mercy Corps.

We need your help to assist the elderly, the disabled, children, and the poorest of the poor affected by the ongoing violence.

In coming days we plan to distribute additional emergency supplies to underserved villages and communities, and work to ensure access to clean water.

As fighting in northern Israel and Lebanon raged on, estimates on the number of displaced residents climbed to 500,000 and humanitarian concerns moved to the fore.

UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland told CNN on Tuesday that he's getting "reports of hundreds of thousands of people being displaced" from their homes in the wake of the violence. "Tens of thousands are already in schools and public buildings," said Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

David Holdridge, Mercy Corps' Regional Program Director for the Middle East, based in Beirut, told CNN on Tuesday afternoon about large movements of people from the besieged southern Beirut suburbs to mountainous areas east of the city, where the agency's first relief distribution is taking place.

He called on all parties to ensure access for humanitarian supplies and workers. "Displaced people without strong family networks are going to have serious humanitarian needs, and we are helping address those needs," Holdridge said.

Residents of Gaza City have been without reliable electricity since the Israeli Defense Forces destroyed its lone power plant in late June in a bid to recover its kidnapped soldier. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Meanwhile, Mercy Corps continues to respond to what the latest United Nations report calls a "deteriorating" humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Electricity supplies there are "severely depleted," the UN says. Gaza's 79 percent poverty rate and 40 percent unemployment rate have "sharply limited households' ability to buy supplies, fuel and water," it adds.

Mercy Corps already has reached more than 4,100 of the most vulnerable Gazans with direct humanitarian aid, including more than 430 people with disabilities who received vital medical supplies, and 470 destitute families who received food packages of flour, sugar, rice, vegetable oil and other rations.

Agency staff in Gaza City are currently working with local partner Dier al Balah Rehabilitation Society to deliver critical food aid and medical supplies to impoverished families.

In southern Lebanon, which is generally less developed and more poor than other parts of the country, Mercy Corps works to improve agricultural and environmental practices in impoverished farming communities. These programs are on hold until the security situation improves.

Mercy Corps has worked in Lebanon since 1996, investing in programs to improve agricultural practices, expand access to information technology, bolster tourism and manage natural resources.

Help us deliver humanitarian aid to those most affected by the violence and respond quickly to emerging needs by donating Middle East Crisis Fund.