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In the less than two weeks since the US and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, the war has already killed over 1,900 people across 11 countries and displaced up to 3.2 million people. It has destroyed schools, hospitals, and critical infrastructure across the region, and threatens to plunge countries near and far — many of which rely on now-disrupted shipping routes for fuel and fertilizer — into economic and humanitarian crises.
If the escalating conflict feels to you like one more in a long slog of painfully violent, complex global crises, then you are not wrong. There are indeed more wars and armed conflicts today than there have been at any time since the end of World War II. Over one-fifth of the world’s kids now live in places warped by conflict, which magnifies poverty and hunger. And conflict doesn’t just worsen conditions on the ground — it makes getting humanitarian aid flowing to those who need it most an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous task.
But difficult doesn’t mean impossible. Local aid workers across the region have been working nonstop to get civilians safely fed and cared for, while new methods of crisis response mean that the world may soon be able to move money much more quickly to the people and places that need it most. And while just how long this war will continue may only be known to President Donald Trump, these organizations will need support to fuel long-term recovery for those both directly and indirectly affected by the violence. The fighting has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane between Iran and Oman that supplies about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade and more than a third of the world’s fertilizer. A prolonged closure could quickly devolve into a major global food crisis, including a spike in hunger in the countries most vulnerable to it.
For the average person, thinking about how to help in a conflict like this can feel daunting, to say the least. It might even seem pointless against the sheer momentum of war. If you can’t solve everything — if the war has no end in sight — then why bother with Band-Aid solutions at all?
But people need help now, so they can make it to the day after. And with global aid cuts siphoning off support for humanitarian relief organizations even as conflict spikes, your donations are genuinely more important than ever. Here’s how to help.
Give to organizations already on the ground
One way to think about the complexities of getting aid to a conflict zone is to imagine a natural disaster that lasts not for hours or days, but for weeks, months, or years on end. “With a hurricane or flood, the hazard has likely passed” by the time aid starts pouring in, said Patricia McIlreavy, CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
But when it comes to complex manmade humanitarian disasters like war, “that hazard is continuing,” she said, meaning that the damage and logistical challenges of coordinating relief in the fog of war can quickly compound as time goes on.
If you’re in the US, giving directly to organizations based in Iran is complicated by American sanctions on the country, though humanitarian projects are generally exempt. But you can donate to global relief organizations, like the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Refugee Council, many of which do work in Iran and across the region.
Other groups, like Project HOPE, are actively monitoring the needs of many Iranian refugees, while focusing their relief efforts on the fallout among Iran’s most vulnerable neighbors.
In Lebanon, home to the world’s highest refugee population per capita, escalating hostilities have led to a mounting humanitarian crisis in a country still recovering from its last war with Israel, which technically ended in 2024. Even prior to the new hostilities, Lebanon was experiencing a severe economic collapse, with nearly 70 percent of the country in need of humanitarian assistance.
- Trusted aid groups like Jesuit Refugee Service, the International Rescue Committee, Project HOPE, Humanity & Inclusion, and Relief International have longstanding teams on the ground working with local partners to offer emergency health services, food, shelter, and mental health support to people in Lebanon and across the region.
- Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been ramping up medical and humanitarian support across the region since the war began.
- Anera has decades of experience distributing aid in Lebanon, and has been providing food, hygiene kits, bedding, and mattresses to those displaced.
- Save the Children is distributing child-focused supplies and responding to the needs of children and families impacted by airstrikes in Lebanon and around the region.
- GlobalGiving has a rolling relief fund providing flexible support to vetted, local organizations across the region, including in Lebanon.
- The World Food Program and World Central Kitchen have both launched funds to rush food aid to those displaced by the conflict.
Many of these organizations are doing their best to actively deploy resources where they anticipate the greatest needs will be. “They don’t know how things are going to settle,” said McIlreavy. “They don’t know where they’re going to have access. And so they’re going to need to be flexible.”
That goes for their supporters as well.
What about sending money to people directly?
The bulk of humanitarian aid still passes through established charities and agencies like the United Nations. But there’s also the increasingly popular idea of sending cash directly to people, something that has been done informally for centuries through remittances and mutual aid.
A growing body of research shows that even in fragile conflict zones, people often strongly prefer receiving cash — which they can then spend however they need to — over relief items like food parcels, hygiene kits, or blankets. The nonprofit GiveDirectly has pioneered the use of technology to get cash aid to people fast, and is actively exploring how to help those affected by this conflict through a newly launched emergency fund.
Historically, most of GiveDirectly’s work has focused on people living in extreme poverty, rather than specifically targeting those living in conflict zones. But the organization has also more recently expanded to providing emergency relief to families affected by conflicts like the Yemeni civil war and armed clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
One way the group works is through cellphone metadata, which can help identify people who are likely in need. In this case, that may include displaced people in Lebanon, Iranian refugees entering Turkey, or Malawians affected by rising fertilizer costs. GiveDirectly then screens those people for eligibility via text, and sends them cash through mobile payment platforms.
The process tends to be “cleaner, faster, more objective, and cheaper” than more traditional outreach methods like knocking door-to-door, said Leith Baker, who runs GiveDirectly’s emergency cash strategy. It’s a “really protective, dignified way to receive money” that “gives the recipient a lot of choice and protection.”
Once the group’s outreach system is in place, it also works exceptionally fast, which makes it an especially promising option for people in rapidly evolving conflict zones. You can help GiveDirectly with its plans to send cash to those affected by the conflict by donating here.
For other ways to send cash directly, plenty of local advocates in Lebanon and across the region have also begun creating and sharing mutual aid funds for local families and organizations, like Nation Station, a volunteer-led community kitchen in Beirut, Lebanon.
Helping people for the long haul
While those who live in range of the bombs are at the greatest risk, many of those most affected will include people who don’t live in the region at all. Those in already deeply impoverished countries will be the most vulnerable to the conflict’s economic ripple effects, which already include surging prices on food, fertilizer, and fuel. There are plenty of groups working to support communities in crisis both now and long after the news cycle fades.
- The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Global Recovery Fund directs funds to local organizations that need it most in the aftermath of both natural and manmade disasters.
- GiveDirectly has a standing fund to deliver emergency cash in the aftermath of disasters, as well as one for families facing extreme poverty more broadly.
- Action Against Hunger works to fight hunger and build stronger food systems around the world, which could help make countries more resilient to price shocks.
Even prior to this escalating crisis, the world was already on the verge of a grim milestone. For the first time in decades, the number of people living in extreme poverty is projected to start increasing by 2030, with most of it highly concentrated in the poorest — and often most conflict-affected — countries.
Global aid cuts have been making a bad situation even worse. And now, for the most vulnerable countries, the Iran war could cause far more than just higher prices at the grocery store, but also prolonged, widespread food shortages. It’s more important than ever to dig deep now to support those suffering the worst fallout.
“Even if the conflict was to end tomorrow,” said McIlreavy, “the recovery will take a long time.”
Update, March 12, 1 pm ET: This story has been updated with information regarding the number of Iranian people who have been displaced by bombings.
