Desperate times can call for desperate measures, like in war-torn Gaza, where suffering is rampant amongst the ruins of buildings and lives. This suffering may look like extreme hunger or flooded tents once called home, or entire families killed and maimed in the constant bombings and airstrikes by the Israeli government. According to a detailed report by the Associated Press, these dire circumstances are pushing parents to marry off their daughters, reversing improvements over the years made for girls and women in this region.
Before the war in Gaza, child marriage was going down. Data gathered from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveal that the marriage of girls under the age of 18 decreased from 22% in 2015 to 17.8% in 2022. However, recent data from the Supreme Shariah Court points to the conflict in Gaza reversing this trend entirely. In 2024 and 2025, records show that 20.6% of the 35,474 documented marriages had a minor involved, and 627 girls under the age of 15.
According to Humanitarian experts, the actual numbers could be far higher than the ones reported. An article by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says that the precise data is difficult to get due to destroyed administrative infrastructure. Many of these child marriages are also unregistered until the girls reach legal age or become pregnant, leaving them without any form of legal protection.
One of the major factors in these marriages is a dire lack of resources. One mother, by the name of Majda, told reporters that her life was in complete and utter ruin before making the difficult decision of marrying her daughters off. “Her husband and eldest son had been killed by Israeli airstrikes. Living in a ragged tent in Gaza with rats and the stench of the sewage, she couldn’t support her children and feared her daughters would be harassed going to the communal latrine in a camp with hundreds of strangers.” By marrying her daughters off, not only would it ensure economic resources for her girls, but also their safety, she said.
It is important to note that it is not just families who decide to marry their girls off, but the girls themselves. Many of the girls interviewed by the Associated Press said they viewed their decision to get married as a way to lessen the burden on their struggling families. Some girls even felt that with schools closed for the foreseeable future marriage was their version of some normalcy.
Although at the time, marriage may seem like a solution to a difficult situation, it can tragically result in both physical and sexual abuse. Majda’s daughter describe vividly being tied up by their mother-in-law and raped by her husband. And, the younger sister suffered two miscarriages after her husband kicked her while she was pregnant. Both of the girls eventually fled and made it back home to their mother, but both suffered extreme trauma from the abuse they endured. Majda noted that after the marriage, there were significant changes she noticed in her younger daughter’s demeanor. “She does not talk to anyone, not to her husband and not to me,” she said.
It is no surprise that these traumatic experiences lead to mental health difficulties. According to data published by Palestine News Network (PNN), four in ten young girls report symptoms of depression or moderate- to severe anxiety, and a staggering 61% present symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Furthermore, many girls face trauma due to medical difficulties when giving birth. The maternity ward of Awda Hospital located in central Gaza witnessed a drastic surge in teen pregnancies during the war. Many of these pregnant girls were extremely malnourished, putting them in the high-risk category for giving birth. One of the girls, age 16, nearly died from childbirth, as a result of severe bleeding. She said, “I was unconscious for many days (after birth), and I couldn’t hold my daughter for a while.”
As a partial solution to these trends, the UNFPA has created 20 safe spaces, 15 youth hubs, and 11 girls’ tents throughout Gaza. These places are helping to reduce gender-based violence as well as give psychological support and reproductive information to girls. They also have self-awareness sessions to help shed light on the rise of child marriages and teen pregnancies.
No family or girl should ever feel as though marriage is their only path forward or out of their harsh lives. This calls for urgent action by the international community to continue providing safe spaces and rebuild the education system for the girls so they can have access to the basic rights they need and deserve.