Women in Gaza traded for food, forced to marry their rapists | Gravitas

Over the last three years, Gaza has been plagued by devastation and death due to Israeli aggression following the October 7 terror attack.

Over 73,000 people have been killed, whereas millions have been displaced.

A new report has now brought into focus the surge in sexual violence and forced marriage faced by girls and women.

In yet another violation of the October 2025 ceasefire, IDF conducted an air strike on a vehicle in Gaza's Khan Yunis city, which killed two people and wounded two others.

However, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Hamas finance chief Muhammad Abu Alwan aad been killed in the attack.

With about 82% of structures in Gaza damaged due to the war, danger still looms large for residents staying in such buildings due to less options for shelter.

Local authorities are planning to evacuate them following the deadly collapse of an apartment block last week.

Now, the latest report by the UN Population Fund uncovered a dark reality.

The report, which analysed data collected by ten organisations, highlighted a 27% increase in gender-based violence from April to June as compared to the previous quarter.

Nearly 30% of these cases pertained to physical assault.

This period saw a 61% surge in sexual violence incidents, with adolescent girls comprising eight percent of such cases.

This is not all.

Some of the women interviewed for the report revealed how rape victims are often married to their rapists to avoid shame and scandal.

The acute sense of displacement and poverty is having drastic consequences.

For instance, a man reportedly married off his 14-year-old daughter in exchange for two bags of flour so that he and his other children could eat.

Additionally, girls orphaned during the war are especially vulnerable, with relatives often marrying them off early.

The data depicts a story in itself.

According to this report, there was a staggering 123% rise in cases of child marriage as well as forced marriage in Gaza in comparison to the last quarter.

Shockingly, adolescent girls accounted for 16% of these cases.

One-third of these overall cases were reported from Gaza city.

The report attributes this phenomenon to resource scarcity, severe overcrowding in refugee camps and limited access to education.

Amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza, U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace announced a six-month plan worth 2.45 billion US Dollars to supposedly rebuild Gaza.

However, at a time when people of Gaza continue to be killed by Israel, can an economic plan designed without taking them on board truly address their grievances?

This question continues to resonate among distraught locals...