Reports of violence against women in Gaza surge, UN agency finds

"The trends are shocking," says Nestor Owomuhangi, the UNFPA representative to Palestine. He says that the extreme circumstances over the past three years - which have seen tens of thousands of people killed, mass destruction and multiple waves of displacement in Gaza - have broken down social structures, so "everything is eroded... there is no system".While food markets have reopened, many cannot afford the goods on offer, there is still extreme poverty and hunger with reliance on charitable handouts. Nearly all the population of more than two million Gazans have been driven from their homes, leaving most living in squalid tent camps or damaged buildings. Public services have largely collapsed, and Israeli air strikes have continued despite the ceasefire.ReutersAbout 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living in tents or makeshift sheltersPrior to the war, girls in Gaza outnumbered and outperformed boys at every level of education above primary school. Now, with prolonged school closures, many children have dropped out of education. For boys there is pressure to find informal work to help support their families, for girls there are heightened issues around safety.Living among strangers, without privacy, in a socially conservative society, there are complaints of heightened sexual harassment and abuse - many families see marrying their daughters as a way to protect them and preserve modesty. The UNFPA report - based on research carried out in late 2025 and early 2026 - reveals how girls orphaned during the war are especially vulnerable.One woman in a Gaza City camp interviewed for the report says she attended the wedding of two girls from her family, aged just 14 and 15."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 said. "By God, they don't understand what marriage or life is."The Women's Affairs Center in Gaza - a Palestinian NGO which works with the UNFPA - and other support groups have documented distressing cases of girls who have been married and suffered abuse, often becoming pregnant. They say that those in their early teens are much more likely to have miscarriages and underweight babies than adult women.