For UK Christians who have supported Tearfund over the years — through church collections, sponsored events, and faithful monthly giving — the latest warning from the charity's Regional Director for the Middle East will be deeply sobering. The situation in Gaza and Lebanon has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. Border crossings have been closed, humanitarian aid has been blocked, and the church partners that Tearfund works with on the ground are scrambling to assess how they can provide food and shelter to families who have fled with nothing.

Safa Hijazeen, Tearfund's Regional Director for the Middle East, is direct: "Families are in real danger of running out of food and aid unless Israel fully reopens all border crossings and allows unrestricted aid to enter freely, immediately and at scale." In Lebanon, the situation is compounded by a country already in economic collapse, where even basic resources are stretched thin.

What can UK Christians do? Tearfund's Middle East Emergency Appeal is the most direct way to help, channelling funds through the church partners already working in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. But beyond giving, there is also the matter of prayer — and of paying attention. It can be easy, in the noise of daily life, to let distant crises fade from view. The church has always been called to something different: to hold the suffering of the world before God, and to act where we can. Tearfund's appeal is at tearfund.org/MiddleEast.