A mother in Gaza, identified only as Majda, has spoken of her regret after marrying off her 13- and 14-year-old daughters to men who promised safety and support. Her husband and eldest son were killed by Israeli airstrikes, leaving her destitute and living in a ragged tent with rats and sewage. She feared her daughters would be harassed going to the communal latrine in a camp of hundreds of strangers.
“I thought I was protecting them,” Majda said. “Fear was slaughtering me.” She said she was not in her right mind and does not know how she agreed to the marriages. Her eldest daughter, 14 at the time, also regretted the decision, saying she felt lost but thought marriage would bring financial security.
The devastation of Israel’s military campaign has fuelled an increase in child marriage in Gaza, according to experts and official data. Figures from the Supreme Shariah Court show that 20.6% of the 35,474 marriages recorded in 2024 and 2025 involved a girl under 18, including 627 marriages of girls under 15. The real rate may be higher as many marriages went unregistered during the war.
Before the war, child marriage had been slowly declining. In 2022, 17.8% of marriages involved a girl under 18, down from over 22% in 2015. The minimum legal age for marriage in Gaza is 17, with some exceptions. The UN and most humanitarian groups classify marriages of girls under 18 as early marriage.
The Associated Press spoke to six girls who married between the ages of 13 and 16, and their parents. All parents said they would never have resorted to such marriages if not for the war. Most girls said they were not coerced but felt a duty to ease the burden on their families. By marrying, they were counted as a separate family for aid distribution, and with schools largely shut, they saw no hope of continuing their education.
One girl, displaced more than 25 times with her family, said her father had been against early marriage but agreed due to desperation. “I couldn’t forgive myself for taking a share of the little food my family had,” she said, adding that she worried her siblings would be left without support if her parents were killed.
