Reported cases of forced and early marriage in Gaza increased 123% during the second quarter of 2026 as displacement, poverty, overcrowded shelters and shortages of basic necessities intensified risks facing women and girls, according to a new United Nations analysis.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Reported cases of forced and early marriage in the Gaza Strip more than doubled during the second quarter of 2026, according to a United Nations analysis that linked the increase to worsening poverty, displacement, food insecurity and limited educational opportunities.
The U.N. Population Fund report, published Sept. 10, found a 123% increase in reported forced and early marriage cases from January-March to April-June. Overall reports of gender-based violence rose 27% over the same period.
The analysis was based on cases managed by 10 organizations participating in Gaza’s gender-based violence case-management system.
UNFPA cautioned that the figures should not be interpreted as measuring the overall prevalence of violence in Gaza. They reflect cases that reached service providers, and increases can partly result from greater access to confidential reporting and assistance.
“As such, the data presented should be understood as indicative rather than comprehensive,” the report said.
Expanded services gave more survivors opportunities to disclose abuse during the quarter, while stigma, limited awareness and difficulty reaching assistance continued to prevent other victims from seeking help. Case managers document survivors’ accounts but do not independently investigate or verify each incident.
Women between ages 18 and 59 represented 68% of all reported survivors.
Denial of resources, opportunities and services was the most frequently reported form of gender-based violence during the period, followed by psychological and emotional abuse and physical violence. UNFPA said the findings reflected increasingly difficult living conditions caused by displacement and shortages of basic necessities.
“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 report said.
Poverty, Displacement and Lost Schooling Linked to Marriage Cases
Case managers identified economic hardship and displacement as major factors contributing to forced and early marriages.
Families struggling with food insecurity and other expenses sometimes viewed marriage as a way to reduce the number of people they needed to support, according to the report. Others reportedly believed marriage could provide girls with greater protection from perceived threats inside crowded displacement camps.
The widespread disruption of education has further reduced alternatives available to girls.
“Despite efforts to establish learning centers across the Gaza Strip, access remains highly limited, leaving marriage as the primary available option for many families,” the report said.
The forced and early marriage category was not limited to minors.
Women ages 18 to 59 accounted for 67% of reported cases, while girls between ages 12 and 17 represented 16%.
The figures underscore that the U.N. category encompasses both child marriage and marriages involving adult women who report that the arrangement was forced.
UNFPA’s earlier January-March analysis had already identified forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse among growing protection concerns as displacement and the deterioration of basic services continued.
Survivors Report Depression, PTSD and Suicidal Thoughts
The report also documented severe mental-health consequences among survivors.
Women and girls reported depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts, along with physical injuries associated with violence.
Those attempting to help them are also under growing strain.
Case managers and other support workers reported severe burnout as they managed increasingly complicated cases while often experiencing many of the same displacement, insecurity and shortages affecting the people they serve.
Fuel shortages and high transportation costs have made it harder for survivors to travel to services and for aid workers to reach communities.
Organizations also reported inadequate facilities and insufficient private locations where survivors could safely discuss abuse or receive assistance.
The number of operating gender-based violence service locations increased from 64 to 74 during the quarter.
Despite that expansion, 17 Women and Girls Safe Spaces remained closed because of funding shortages and security concerns.
A mapping exercise examining more than 500 displacement locations found that only about half were situated within 500 meters of a safe space, leaving many women and girls with limited physical access to specialized protection services.
UNFPA said its April-June findings reflected the continuing disproportionate impact of displacement, inadequate shelter and resource scarcity on women and girls and called for expanded services and greater support for organizations working directly with survivors.
Nearly Entire Gaza Population Needs Shelter Assistance
The findings come amid continuing humanitarian hardship across Gaza despite the October 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
A Sept. 9 humanitarian snapshot from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that approximately 1.98 million people — about 94% of Gaza’s population — needed shelter assistance and household supplies.
More than half of the population faced what humanitarian officials classified as critical or catastrophic shelter needs, while 84% of households were experiencing severe constraints involving living conditions and protection from the weather.
Such conditions can compound risks identified in the gender-based violence report by placing families in overcrowded temporary accommodations with limited privacy, sanitation and access to necessities.
Economic losses and changes in household structure have also placed additional pressure on women.
UN Women reported Sept. 8 that women now head nearly one in four households in Gaza, compared with approximately one in nine before October 2023. The agency estimated that women were responsible for about 86,290 households.
The increase includes widows as well as women whose husbands are missing, detained, severely injured, forcibly disappeared or whose whereabouts remain unknown.
UN Women reported that 68% of households headed by women lacked adequate shelter, compared with 55% of households headed by men.
UN Calls for Cash Aid, Jobs and More Safe Spaces
UNFPA said reducing the risks documented in its analysis will require addressing both violence itself and the economic and social pressures that can leave women and girls more vulnerable.
The report recommended expanding cash assistance and livelihood opportunities so families facing extreme poverty have alternatives to coping strategies such as forced marriage.
It also called for vocational training and employment opportunities for women and girls, along with more Women and Girls Safe Spaces and direct financial support for organizations led by women.
Closer coordination between gender-based violence programs and child-protection services is also needed to address forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the report.
UNFPA additionally urged stronger support for case managers dealing with heavy workloads and severe burnout, as well as broader integration of gender-based violence prevention into humanitarian programs involving shelter, food, health care and other services.
The agency cautioned that the reported 123% increase in forced and early marriage should not be interpreted as a complete count of such marriages throughout Gaza.
Some of the increase may reflect greater availability of services and improved opportunities for survivors to report abuse, while other cases likely remain unreported because of stigma, insecurity and difficulty reaching assistance.
The figures nevertheless show a substantial rise among cases reaching humanitarian organizations during a period in which displacement, shelter shortages, poverty and disrupted schooling continued to narrow options for women and girls.
For the U.N. agencies monitoring conditions in Gaza, the broader concern is that those pressures are not operating independently: economic hardship, inadequate shelter, family disruption and reduced access to education can combine to increase vulnerability to forced marriage and other forms of gender-based violence.
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