Sharp Rise in the Number of Teen Girls Becoming Mothers
From one girl who became a mother in 2021 to ten minors who gave birth in 2025: police have been unable to stop child marriages in the Hasidic community in Yavne'el, and now the cost paid by these innocent young women is becoming clear, all according to data from a single hospital in the north. It appears that the minors' marriage case recently exposed after the wedding of a 15-year-old girl to a man in his 30s in Yavne'el is only the tip of the iceberg. Law enforcement authorities are struggling to find evidence of child marriages, making it difficult to prosecute those involved, and the numbers show that the phenomenon in the Yavne'el community is only growing.
Two weeks ago, we reported on a 16-year-old girl from the Hasidic community who arrived at Haemek Medical Center in Afula and gave birth to a baby, a case that was also reported by Haemek to welfare authorities. But new data, submitted at the request of MK Merav Cohen, chair of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women’s Status, paints a grim picture regarding underage motherhood. According to the numbers from Poriya alone, there has been an increase of hundreds of percent in the number of girls from Yavne'el who came to give birth, from three years ago until 2025, compared with the years before that. Here too, the figures are much larger, since apart from one hospital, the other medical centers in the north did not provide data on births to minors.
According to Poriya’s report, in 2000, 40 girls came there to give birth, 15 of them age 16. This means they were married at age 15. What is troubling are the numbers, which have been on a sharp upward trend in recent years: in 2025, ten minors from Yavne'el were recorded as coming to give birth at the hospital, in 2024 there were eight cases, in 2023 there were only two, and in 2022 five minors came to give birth at Poriya. But in 2021 there was only one girl, and the same was true in the years before that.
According to data from the Knesset Research and Information Center, in 2025-2023 there were 321 reports of cases of underage marriages without permit in Israel, mainly in the Arab sector and very strictly Orthodox Haredi communities. However, only a handful of indictments were filed in connection with these marriages. Police officials say enforcement is difficult because these wedding ceremonies are carried out in secret. Even when officers arrive at the place where a wedding was held, they find that the marriage ceremony itself was conducted covertly, without a ketubah and without stating that it was a wedding. Those involved refer to the gathering as an engagement ceremony, which is permitted by law, and this makes it difficult for police to prove that an illegal wedding took place.
In another recent case, police found a bridal chair and a ketubah in an apartment in Yavne'el. But it was not signed, and since it did not include the couple’s names, the case did not develop into an investigation. Hospitals other than those approached by MK Cohen did not provide figures, but there is information indicating that girls from the same community also gave birth in them.
MK Cohen said, "I want to note that the only one who acted transparently and provided information at our request about the rate of births to young girls from Yavne'el was Poriya Hospital. The other hospitals and health funds I approached refused to present the data. We will not let go of this issue, and anyone who withholds information that may save the lives of girls will pay a price. The more I dig deeper into child marriages in Yavne'el, the more I understand how alarming the scope of the phenomenon is. Only a combined effort by the police and the welfare, health and education systems will bring real change. I will do everything to make that happen. Do not think that our struggle for the girls and boys in Yavne'el is a nuisance that will go away. We have only just begun."
Yedioth Ahronoth approached the Health Ministry on the issue of underage marriages, and it responded: "The ministry is working together with government ministries and law enforcement bodies as part of an interministerial committee established in 2023 to examine the phenomenon and formulate appropriate responses. Today, professional support is provided in hospitals to minor mothers, including risk assessments and the involvement of social workers, alongside the ministry’s work on continuity of care and coordination with welfare and community authorities."
First published: 00:00, 11.06.26
