Middle East War Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Lebanon as Israel orders swathes of the country to evacuate amid its bombing campaign against Hezbollah in the south. As the humanitarian crisis worsens, local NGOs are doing what they can to help. Volunteers prepare meals at the community kitchen Nation Station for displaced people and refugees in Beirut, Lebanon, on 5 March, 2026. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Advertising Read more In the Geitawi neighbourhood of Beirut, around 40 people are preparing huge pots of bulgur and tomatoes. The premises are a former petrol station, converted by NGO Nation Station into a community kitchen after the Beirut port explosion in August 2020. Its volunteers are cooking for people displaced by the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah. "Most people have nowhere to go, the shelters are full, we cannot meet all their needs. Many NGOs have doubled their efforts, as we have, but it is not enough," says Joséphine Abou Abdo, the co-founder of Nation Station. "The government does not have the means to help. And there are not enough people helping to support us. This is a serious crisis – I would even say it's worse than during the last war." 'War with no winners': Middle East crisis enters a dangerous new phase 'Powerless' Hanna Dulière, a 14-year-old French national, is among the volunteers. "In this country, we all need a certain amount of solidarity, otherwise nothing will hold together," she says. Another French volunteer, Soledad André-Amra, says helping out gives her a sense of purpose. "We feel very powerless about what is happening. It is important to be able to do something, even if it is not much," she says. "There are still a lot of people living on the streets today and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced." The roughly 2,200 hot meals they are preparing will be delivered to 15 schools that are housing people fleeing the conflict. Refugees, migrants in Lebanon find rare sanctuary from Israeli strikes in Beirut church More than 800,000 people are currently displaced in Lebanon, according to the country's Disaster Risk Management Unit – roughly one in seven of the country's 5.8 million people. Nearly 126,000 of those displaced are housed in shared shelters. Israel has placed nearly 1,500 square kilometres of Lebanese territory under evacuation orders, including much of the south of the country and Beirut's southern suburbs, both Hezbollah strongholds. Last week, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that if the war didn’t end, a humanitarian disaster was looming. "The humanitarian and political consequences of this displacement could be unprecedented," he said. This article was adapted from the original version in French. Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe