Abu Khadra was born in Jaffa in 1929.[2] Her family is from Gaza.[3] In 1948 they had to leave Jaffa and settled in Damascus.[1]
Abu Khadra completed her secondary education at Saint Joseph Sisters School in Jaffa in 1945.[4] She obtained a certificate in education from the University of Oxford in 1947 and a degree in French literature from Saint Joseph University in 1952.[2] Later she settled in Kuwait[1] and played a significant role in the education of Palestinian girls.[2] She established the first nursery school in Kuwait.[5] She also founded a private school in Kuwait where she worked until 1990.[2] She left Kuwait due to the Gulf War in 1991 and settled in Egypt where her daughter had been living.[1]
Abu Khadra's political career began when she joined Fatah in 1965.[2] The same year she took part in the establishment of Palestinian women council.[6] In 1967 she became a board member of the General Union of Palestinian Women.[3] She was a member of the Palestinian Higher Council for Culture, Science and Education from 1976, and a member of the revolutionary council of Fatah from 1980.[4] She also served as a member of the PLO's central committee.[3] She was elected as the secretary general of the General Union of Palestinian Women in May 1985.[7] She was also the secretary general of the women bureau of Fatah and served as a member of the Consultative Committee of the Palestinian Constitution.[2] Abu Khadra headed the Palestinian delegation at the second conference on women of the United Nations in 1980.[3]
Abu Khadra died on 15 November 2024, at the age of 95.[8]