Gaza - The women in Gaza Strip are suffering from customs and traditions for a long time. They have to remain silent and not complain about the domestic violence they are subjected to by their husbands.

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused economic crises and women have been subjected to violence against them amid crisis. Jinha Women's News Agency talked to many Palestinian women about their stories and how they struggle with violence against them;

28-year-old Nagham said that she got married six years ago, and she has been subjected to violence by her husband since their engagement period. She went to her mother to complain about her husband mistreatment and bad words, but her mother’s response to her was, “He will change after marriage”. Nagham said her husband didn’t change after their marriage. Her husband forced her to wear the niqab to cover her face; he prevented her from using the internet, mobile phone, watching TV, and visiting her family.

Her husband is also a drug addict and he left his job to work illegally. When Nagham told her husband that she was pregnant, her husband beat her. She was hospitalized for a week but she had a miscarriage. When the police questioned her about her miscarriage, she had to say she fell down from the stairs due to her family.

Nagham wanted to ask for a divorce but her family didn’t allow her and told her to return to her husband’s house. In her words, she still lives in hell today with her three children.

35-year-old Amal is also one of the women facing violence.  She said she tried to prevent her husband to use violence against her but she couldn’t escape. Amal works secretly as part-time domestic worker to cover the expenses of her four children.

Amal tried to ask for a divorce but her family didn’t allow her. She works as a part-time domestic worker. Her father died and she is waiting for receiving inheritance money to ask for a divorce and buy a small house in order to live with her children.

22-year-old Donia divorced her husband after her husband asked her to spend time with men he brought to the house while her two children were watching them. When she screamed, her neighbors heard her voice and saw what her husband did her and they called Donia’s family to take her, but her father beat her by blaming her.

 Donia said her father still doesn’t believe her and forces her to marry another man.  

25-year-old Hana said she got married to a man having good economic conditions, but after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, he became unemployed. After lost his job, he began to threaten and beat her and her child. Then they moved to his family’s house but she feels uncomfortable with his family and wants to return to their life before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Aisha Association for Women and Child Protection has published its latest online survey of violence cases during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to the survey, the percent of women facing violence due to the economic crisis was 69.9%; 60.7% of women faced psychological violence, 30.2% of women faced social violence, 8.9% of women faced verbal violence was and 22.9% of women faced physical violence in Gaza Strip in 2020.