As the war in Gaza drags into its second year, the suffering of civilians — especially women and children — has deepened. Alongside the bombs, displacement, and hunger, another hidden wound has emerged: women being sexually exploited by men linked to humanitarian assistance.
According to The Associated Press, several women in Gaza have described how men — sometimes presenting themselves as aid workers or community leaders — pressured them to provide sexual favors in exchange for food, medicine, or the promise of work. One woman, a 38-year-old mother of six, recounted how she thought she was meeting an aid worker to sign a contract. Instead, he drove her to an empty apartment and coerced her into a sexual encounter. “I had to play along because I was scared, I wanted out of this place,” she told AP. Before leaving, he handed her the equivalent of $30 and later some food and medicine. Weeks later, the promised job finally materialized, but at a terrible cost to her dignity (according to AP News).
Another widow described late-night phone calls from a man wearing a UNRWA uniform who had taken her number during an aid distribution. The calls soon turned into harassment, with questions about her underclothes and proposals for sex. She reported the incident verbally but was told she needed recorded proof, something she could not provide with her old phone. “He would ask sexual questions, and I’d stay silent,” she said. “I told myself that no one would believe it” (AP News).
Human rights advocates say this kind of abuse is tragically common in conflict zones. Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch explained, “It’s a horrible reality that humanitarian crises make people vulnerable in many ways — increased sexual violence is often a consequence. The situation in Gaza today is unspeakable, especially for women and girls” (AP News).
Local women’s groups, including the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza, have confirmed dozens of cases. Amal Syam, the Center’s director, noted that while the numbers of reported incidents have increased dramatically, many cases are never spoken of publicly. “Most of us prefer to keep the focus on the violence and violations committed by the Israeli occupation,” she admitted, but she also stressed that exploitation is clearly on the rise (AP News).
Psychologists working with victims described women who became pregnant as a result of this exploitation, women cast out by their husbands, and women who live under constant fear and shame. In Gaza’s deeply conservative society, even speaking about such abuse is taboo, leaving many survivors isolated and silenced.
A Catholic Reflection
For Catholics, this tragic reality calls us to both compassion and righteous anger. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: “Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that ‘everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity’” (CCC 1931).
What is happening in Gaza is the very opposite of dignity: women reduced to bargaining their bodies for bread, children left vulnerable, and men exploiting the weak when Christ commands us to protect them.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that we encounter Him in the hungry, the thirsty, and the stranger. How much more grievous, then, when those meant to provide food and care instead use their power to wound?
A Call to Prayer and Action
As Catholics, we must pray for these women and children — that they may be defended, healed, and restored in dignity. We must also support those humanitarian organizations working with integrity and accountability. And we must call out exploitation, wherever it occurs, remembering that Christ Himself stands with the poor and oppressed.
In Gaza, as in so many conflict zones, women are forced into “impossible decisions,” as AP described it. Their plight is a reminder that in war, the suffering of the most vulnerable is always multiplied — and that we are called, in the words of Pope Leo XIV, to “defend and promote peace, justice, and human fraternity.”
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