Women in Gaza are being traded for food & forced to marry their rapists

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Women in Gaza are being traded for food and forced into marriages with their rapists, according to a pair of reports from the United Nations — underscoring the critical importance of President Trump’s Board of Peace in the war-torn enclave.

There was a 123% increase in the number of early and forced marriage incidents across Gaza in the first quarter of 2026, with women between the ages of 18-59 suffering 68% of all gender-based violence (GBV) in the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations’ Population Fund (UNFPA) found.

Researchers spoke to women who said young girls were married off to rapists, traded for food or given up by guardians who did not want to take care of them amid the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war.

“The second highest form of GBV reported was psychological and emotional violence, followed by physical violence, sexual violence, and forced and early marriage,” the researchers wrote.

“These trends are attributed to heightened stress felt by women and men forced to live in inadequate and overcrowded shelters and continued limited access to basic resources including food, water, basic hygiene materials and clothing.”

The second report highlighted some of the most distressing incidents inside refugee camps in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where 230 women shared their stories.

One refugee living in a school-turned shelter said that rape victims are often forced to marry their rapists to avoid shame and scandal.

“When rape cases are discovered in schools, you find weddings and celebrations at the school the next day,” she said.

Another woman recalled how a man married off his 14-year-old daughter in exchange for “two bags of flour so he and his [other] children could eat.”

Others claimed that many families looked to marry their girls off early so that their husbands could help protect them from rapists lurking in the overcrowded refugee camps. The UNFPA previously reported on how girls orphaned by war are especially vulnerable to sexual violence.

Still, other girls are simply abandoned by their caretakers, one woman living in a Gaza City camp said, noting she attended such weddings for a 14- and 15-year-old.

“Their uncles married them off very young. Do you know why? Because their father and mother were martyred, and their uncles wanted to get rid of the responsibility and expenses,” the woman told researchers.

Widows and single mothers are also at greater risk of being sexually abused and exploited, as nearly 25% of all households in Gaza are now headed by a woman, double what it was before the war, according to the UNFPA.

“One widow was looking for a tent, and a [camp] representative told her, “I’ll give you a tent, we’ll put you in our camp, and you can come stay with me tonight,” one witness in Gaza City recalled.

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