Northern District police say they have been running a covert investigation for months into illegal child marriages inside a small closed community centered in Yavne'el in the Lower Galilee. On Wednesday morning, when the inquiry went public, dozens of officers from the Northern District and Border Police raided locations linked to the community and detained suspects, including people alleged to organize the secret weddings, arrange matches for minors and conduct the ceremonies, as well as several minors believed to have married in recent months.
Investigators said they uncovered the group’s method: most ceremonies were held in the morning with only a few people present, and the location was not revealed until the last moment. Phones were kept out and filming was barred, apparently to prevent documentation. After the religious ceremony, a larger public event was often held under the cover of an engagement party, with relatives of the bride and groom invited.
In February, acting on real-time intelligence, Northern District detectives raided a child-marriage ceremony at a home in a village. Officers found the couple dressed as bride and groom, and during a search in the building they located a marriage contract, wedding rings and a cup wrapped in aluminum foil inside a water-meter cabinet.
As part of the investigation, police obtained court orders to gather information from hospitals in northern Israel, and that effort led them to more than 20 cases from the past three years in which girls from the community gave birth while, according to Interior Ministry records, they were still registered as unmarried. Police said the case remains under investigation and they will continue working with enforcement and welfare agencies to end the practice and bring those involved to justice.
