Police in northern Israel raided a closed religious community in the town of Yavne’el on Wednesday, detaining several individuals suspected of organizing secret underage marriage ceremonies.
According to police, those detained include people allegedly involved in arranging weddings, matchmaking for minors, and conducting religious marriage ceremonies. Several teenagers who are suspected of having been married in recent months were also taken in for questioning.
(Photo: Israel Police)
The investigation, which was conducted covertly over several months, focused on suspected underage marriages within the community. Police said the ceremonies were allegedly carried out in a discreet manner during morning hours, with a small number of participants. Locations were kept secret, and mobile phones were reportedly not allowed in order to prevent documentation.
Authorities said that after the religious ceremony, families often held a separate public event presented as an “engagement celebration,” attended by relatives.
As part of the investigation, police collected information from hospitals in northern Israel and identified more than 20 cases in recent years in which girls from the community gave birth while officially registered as unmarried in Interior Ministry records.
Police said enforcement in such cases is difficult because events are often not clearly documented as weddings, sometimes without official marriage documents or public indications that a marriage took place. Even when gatherings are held, they are often described as engagement events, which are not prohibited under Israeli law.
Data submitted to the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women shows a rise in reported cases of underage births linked to the community in recent years. Figures from Poriya Hospital in Tiberias show a marked increase in teenage births from Yavne’el in 2024 and 2025 compared to previous years. Additional data from Laniado Hospital in Netanya also recorded similar cases.
Due to privacy regulations, hospitals report such cases only to welfare authorities and not directly to police.
According to the Knesset Research and Information Center, 321 cases of underage marriage without official authorization were reported in Israel between 2023 and 2025, mainly in Arab society and in very religious communities. However, only a small number of indictments have been filed.
Police have not yet announced charges, and the investigation is ongoing.