GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The three Abrahamic religions as well as civil laws and regulations are in agreement against sexual acts among relatives, or incest. Such acts are considered a threat to communities, as they destabilize the core of all societies: the family.

Despite the criminal and social taboo aspects, which humanity is generally in agreement on, some people in Arab and Western societies, including Palestinian communities, continue to deviate from this proscription. Stories are emerging from the Gaza Strip of aberrant behavior that goes against everything that the religious Palestinian community stands for.

Samah is a 23-year-old woman from the northern Gaza Strip driven into prostitution after repeated sexual assault by her older brother.

Samah told Al-Monitor that her brother, a Tramadol addict, first tried to assault her when she was only 16. She then ran away from home and was put into protective custody by the police, until an “honorable” man married her. But her brother resurfaced, threatening to ruin her relationship with her husband if she did not steal for him, which she unfortunately did. This crime led to her arrest, imprisonment and subsequent divorce.