Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, stand near a screen displaying Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya during a rally to show support to Hezbollah and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen October 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Hamas announced on Monday that it had elected Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s lead negotiator in indirect ceasefire talks with Israel, as the new head of its political bureau.
“Hamas announces the election of brother mujahid Khalil al-Hayya as head of the movement’s political bureau, succeeding the martyred leader Yahya al-Sinwar,” Hamas said in a statement.
Sinwar, whom Israel accused of being one of the principal architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza a year later. Since his death, Hamas has been led by a five-member leadership council headed by long-time senior official Mohammed Darwish.
Born in 1960, Hayya survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha last year, though one of his sons was killed in the strike. Hayya defeated former Hamas chief and veteran leader Khaled Meshaal in the leadership contest.
“Khalil al-Hayya was elected by an overwhelming majority,” a senior Hamas official told AFP, adding that he was expected to formally assume the role next week.
“The political bureau will meet in Istanbul within days to form committees and begin restructuring Hamas’s leadership bodies.”
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The official said the current five-member leadership council would be dissolved, with its members submitting their resignations to the group’s Shura Council.
“The election process was conducted through a highly complex and secretive mechanism because of the difficult security situation and the occupation’s assassination of several political and military leaders,” a source in Hamas said.
Representatives of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, also declared their “full support” to Hayya.
Earlier in the month, Hamas announced that it had dissolved its de facto government in Gaza and signalled its willingness to hand administrative authority to a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats, in a move aimed at advancing a stalled post-war peace plan while accusing Israel of failing to fulfil its own commitments.
The decision marked a significant step under a peace framework proposed by US President Donald Trump after a ceasefire took effect in October. However, Hamas said the ministries it established over the past decade would continue to function, with existing staff remaining in place, while the group would retain responsibility for security and policing in areas still under its control.
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The Trump-appointed Board of Peace, established to oversee implementation of the plan, acknowledged Hamas’s announcement but said its assessment would be based on “actions, not promises” in addressing Gaza’s urgent humanitarian needs.
