Dr. Hadi Badran: A Palestinian Refugee Who Defied Cancer to Heal Gaza
From British Hospitals to Gaza’s Ruins—The Inspiring Final Journey of a Doctor Who Chose His People Over Comfort.
Watan-Hadi Badran was no ordinary doctor. Battling stage-four lung cancer, he chose to serve his people in Gaza rather than retreat into treatment. Born to a Palestinian refugee family displaced from Acre in the 1948 Nakba, he grew up in Lebanon listening to his father’s stories about the homes and fields they lost. “Those stories helped me imagine how life used to be,” he once said, “and made me long to go there.”
His Lebanese mother carried that memory in her own way. Joking in a TV interview, he recalled: “My grandmother prayed for my father to become a doctor. He was afraid of blood, so the mission fell to me.”
In 1996, Badran left for Turkey to study medicine, then moved to the UK in 2004 to specialize in anesthesiology. He worked for years in British hospitals, most recently as a consultant anesthesiologist at St. George’s Hospital in London. In 2023, he was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer—but didn’t let that stop him.
After hearing that the humanitarian group Rahma Worldwide needed an anesthesiologist in Gaza, he volunteered, despite the objections of his wife and family. “If you die, your kids will be orphans,” his wife told him.
He replied:“If everyone thinks that way, no one will go.”
In March 2024, he traveled to Gaza. Amid the rubble of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, he bore witness to genocide. He said:“Gaza is a legend. If dignity had a face, it would be the people of Gaza.”
Badran wasn’t just a doctor—he was a donor and an advocate. He helped financially support Gaza and participated in a relief campaign led by the Palestinian Forum in Britain.
Dr. Hadi Badran wasn’t merely a medical professional. He was a refugee who understood what it means to be born without a homeland, to live in exile, and to die with memory as your only possession. He chose to walk toward death with those who shared his struggle.
He passed away on May 23, 2025, in Britain and was buried there. On that same day, the bodies of children were still being pulled from the rubble in Gaza. The doctor died, but the wound remains open.
Praised as a model of noble medical service and human devotion, Badran’s journey was described as one of dedication and selflessness. Despite his failing health, he served Gaza’s wounded under bombardment, giving himself in both a human and professional sacrifice.
The Palestinian Forum in Britain honored his patience, faith, and presence at many community events in support of the Palestinian cause—even while battling cancer.
