Hamas says Khalil al-Hayya elected as group's new chief

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced 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.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement (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 is 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.”

The official said the current five-member leadership council will 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.