The humanitarian needs in Gaza and Lebanon have reached dire proportions as violence escalates in the Middle East, Christian groups have warned.

Tearfund said that Lebanon is struggling to cope with the scale of need, with some 90,000 people displaced from their homes and essential infrastructure crippled by Israeli airstrikes.

The conflict has only worsened the challenges in Lebanon, which has already been grappling with political and economic turmoil since 2019.

Safa Hijazeen, Tearfund's Regional Director for the Middle East, said that this year's olive harvest has been wiped out, and that toxic remnants from the bombs will render the ground unsafe to grow on for at least another 10 years.

"People in Lebanon are terrified and confused, waiting for death and destruction to arrive. Lebanon was already on the verge of collapse; now it's heading towards a humanitarian catastrophe," he said. 

"Families in Lebanon are normalising war, it's their daily bread now. Tens of thousands of children are missing school because it's not safe to go out - instead they're learning to tell the difference between a sonic bomb or another type of missile overhead.

"The impact of the airstrikes in Lebanon will last for a generation." 

Tearfund has relaunched its Middle East appeal to support local partners, including churches, as they provide shelter, medicine and meals to displaced people. 

"A year after the October 7 attacks, the need in Gaza is immense and Lebanon stands on the brink of disaster," Hijazeen added. 

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is providing food parcels and medical aid to Christian communities in Lebanon. Sister Maya El Beaino of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary has remained with the Christian community in Aid Ebel, around three miles from the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. 

She said the area is home to around 9,000 Christians who are living in "constant danger". 

"There is no hospital in the area, no Red Cross, and we have only three hours of electricity a day. That means no internet, no water," she said. 

"It's true that many left the region at the beginning of the Gaza war, but many families have returned because life in Beirut was too expensive, and they could not bear the separation from their religious leaders."

Sister Mary, who is the only member of her congregation remaining in the convent, described the situation as "simply terrible". 

"People are still carrying trauma from the war in 2006, and now there's fear that bridges and roads will be bombed again," she said. 

Joshua Youssef, head of Help The Persecuted, said that Lebanon was facing needs "on an unprecedented scale". Help the Persecuted is providing shelter, food and pastoral support through its War Refuge Centre. It also runs a network of safe houses which it said are expected to be completely full in the coming days.

"One million people are fleeing the war, and the need is vast and urgent," he said. 

Christian Aid's Middle East lead, Julie Mehigan, expects to see "massive" displacement and civilian casualties in Lebanon. 

"All the while Gaza is continually being bombed from land, air and sea. We are on the precipice of yet another humanitarian calamity in the region," she said.