He Preferred Gaza to London, So Annihilation Buried Him Under the Rubble: The Story of Doctor Maisara Al-Rayes
A press report tells the story of Gazan doctor Maisara Al-Rayes, who chose to return to Gaza over staying in London, worked with Doctors of the World, and was killed in an Israeli strike in November 2023 along with most of his family. His sister Fatima, the sole survivor, recounts the details of their deaths, and King's College London honors his memory with a scholarship.
On July 31, 2026, the newspaper "Filastin" published a report by Maryam Al-Shawbaki telling the story of doctor Maisara Al-Rayes, who preferred to return to Gaza over staying in London, before being killed in an Israeli strike on November 5, 2023. Maisara was born on January 31, 1995, excelled academically, and graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Azhar University in Gaza in 2019, then received a British Chevening scholarship to study for a master's in women's and child health at King's College London. He returned to Gaza in July 2021, worked with the organization "Doctors of the World," and married five months before his death. On November 5, 2023, Israel bombed his family's building on Al-Sina'a Street in Gaza, killing his parents, his siblings Areeb and Azza, and their three children, while his brother Mu'ayyad survived because he had left before the strike, but he was later killed along with his brother Muhammad while trying to help. After more than two years, civil defense teams recovered the remains of some family members, including Maisara and his sister Areeb. King's College London honored his memory by hanging his picture and launching a scholarship in his name for Palestinian students.