Majda was left with nothing. Her husband and eldest son were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and she was forced to live in a tattered tent in Gaza, surrounded by rats and the stench of sewage. Unable to provide for her children, she feared her daughters would be harassed on their way to communal latrines in a crowded displacement camp.
In desperation, she made a decision she now deeply regrets. She married off her 13- and 14-year-old daughters to men who promised protection and financial support.
“I thought I was protecting them,” she said. “Fear was slaughtering me.”
The devastation caused by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has contributed to a rise in child marriage, according to experts and official data. With nearly the entire population displaced and living in overcrowded, unsanitary camps dependent on aid, some families have turned to early marriage in search of security and stability for their teenage daughters.
For many girls, that choice has meant the abrupt end of childhood and limited prospects for the future, along with heightened health risks from early pregnancy.
