By Minaz Kerawala, Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada (DPCC) is calling Canadians to give generously to help our regional partners respond to the widening and worsening Middle East emergency. Our appeal is part of a national collection by the Humanitarian Coalition, in which we are participating as a member of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
DPCC has also allocated $60,000 to Caritas Iran and $165,000 to Caritas Lebanon, who have already begun providing food, water, emergency supplies and medical and shelter services to war-affected people. Other partners in the region, too, stand ready to come to people’s aid as the crisis spreads, but they will all need much more support.
Middle East emergency: an illegal war
The current phase of the Middle East emergency began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. This abruptly and violently ended negotiations in which Iran had made significant concessions to bring a peace deal within reach, according to Oman’s foreign minister, who was mediating the talks.
Iran retaliated by striking what it claims to be American assets in neighbouring countries. Then, Hezbollah began hitting back at Israel, which had kept violating an existing ceasefire. Israel responded with airstrikes on Lebanon and has now begun a ground invasion.
Though rightly denounced by the international community, the Iranian authorities’ deadly repression of dissent does not justify the American and Israeli aggressions. DPCC has joined Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of Catholic aid and development organizations of which we are the Canadian member, in unequivocally condemning these attacks as “grave violations of human dignity, the rule of law, and international law.” This assessment of their illegality is shared by UN experts and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“A tragedy of immense proportions”
From the outset of the war on Iran, Pope Leo XIV feared “the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions.” On the very first day, American strikes on a school in Minab killed over 165 people, mostly children.
By yesterday, a live tracker of official figures was reporting that over 1,400 people had been killed and over 18,500 had been injured in Iran, and that the death toll in Israel, in other Gulf states and among American armed forces had surpassed 75. Up to 3.2 million Iranians are estimated to have been temporarily displaced.
In Lebanon, 912 people have been killed; 2,221 people have been injured; and at least 816,000 people, representing 14 per cent of the entire population, have been displaced. The war has exacted an especially heavy toll on children across the Middle East, with over 1,100 reported killed or injured and at least 52 million facing disrupted education.
In contravention of humanitarian principles and law, American and Israeli attacks are also destroying civil infrastructure, the environment, health facilities and cultural monuments, and, along with Iranian reprisals, exacerbating economic hardship and food insecurity.
Middle East emergency: you can help now
The complexity of this Middle East emergency means that people facing it need not only relief and aid but also sustained support to heal rifts, recover and rebuild resilience. Our partners can meet these needs, but only with your help. That is why we ask you to please give generously online or by calling 1-888-234-8533 toll-free.
We also join the bishops of Canada in asking the faithful to pray for peace; reiterate Pope Leo XIV’s reminder that peace can be achieved “only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue;” and echo the Holy Father’s call to the belligerents to cease fire.