Destitute from war, a mother in Gaza made a fateful choice and gave her young daughters in marriage

Israel

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Majda was destitute. Her husband and eldest son had been killed by Israeli airstrikes . Living in a ragged tent in Gaza with rats and the stench of sewage, she couldn’t support her children and feared her daughters would be harassed going to the communal latrine in a camp with hundreds of strangers. So she made a decision she now deeply regrets. She married off her 13- and 14-year-old daughters to men who promised safety and support. “I thought I was protecting