Gaza Girls, 13 and 14, Return to Husbands as War Lifts Child Marriage to 20.6%
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · May 29
Gaza Girls, 13 and 14, Return to Husbands as War Lifts Child Marriage to 20.6%
4 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · May 29
Early May forced Majda’s 13- and 14-year-old daughters back to their husbands in Gaza City after they had fled alleged rape, beatings and miscarriages and begged not to return.
Israeli airstrikes had killed the girls’ father and brother, leaving the family destitute in a tent camp where Majda said fear, hunger and pressure from relatives drove her to marry them off.
20.6% of 35,474 marriages recorded in Gaza in 2024 and 2025 involved girls under 18, court data show, reversing a prewar decline to 17.8% in 2022; 627 involved girls under 15.
Aid rules, school shutdowns, repeated displacement and the cost and stigma of divorce have made marriage a survival strategy for some families even as doctors report more high-risk teenage pregnancies.
Majda has not been able to contact her daughters since they returned, underscoring how Gaza’s war is pushing families back toward child marriage despite its documented abuse and health risks.
How can Gaza break the cycle of child marriage when war and displacement keep pushing families toward desperate choices?
With health and legal systems shattered, what can global agencies do to protect girls from early marriage and its devastating consequences?
Gaza’s Child Marriage Crisis: Surge Driven by War, Poverty, and Systemic Collapse (2026 Report)
Overview
As of May 2026, Gaza is facing a sharp rise in child marriage, directly linked to the ongoing conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis. Many families have lost their main providers, plunging them into extreme poverty and leaving them unable to support their children. In overcrowded displacement camps, parents fear for their daughters’ safety, especially as girls face harassment even when using communal facilities. Driven by desperation for protection and financial stability, families are marrying off young girls, believing it is the only way to keep them safe. This surge reflects the severe breakdown of social and economic structures in Gaza.