Gaza: Palestinian group Hamas has announced the election of Khalil al-Hayya as the new head of its political bureau.
Al-Hayya’s election on Monday follows the killing of the previous leader, Yahya Sinwar, by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in 2024. Sinwar had taken over after the Israeli assassination of political head Ismail Haniyeh earlier that year. Al-Hayya himself survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar last year.
His appointment came after a run-off vote within the movement’s General Shura Council against former political chief Khaled Meshaal, after neither candidate secured the required 50 percent plus one majority in earlier voting.
The election of al-Hayya, formerly the group’s exiled Gaza leader, is in line with Hamas’s internal 2021 framework requiring top leadership positions to reflect its key geographical sectors – the other two being the occupied West Bank and the diaspora.
Al-Hayya, who was part of a temporary five-man ruling council established in late 2024 to handle wartime governance, will now serve out the remainder of the current electoral term ending in 2027.
Academic roots and early activism
Born in Gaza City on November 5, 1960, al-Hayya grew up in a conservative family deeply scarred by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the subsequent Israeli occupation. Witnessing military raids on his Gaza family home and the arrest of relatives during his childhood shaped his early political consciousness.
In March 1980, a pivotal meeting with Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin drew him into organised activism. Al-Hayya pursued extensive Islamic studies, obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1983, a master’s degree from the University of Jordan in 1986, and a doctorate in hadith sciences from Sudan in 1997.
He later served as the dean of student affairs at the Islamic University of Gaza and joined the Palestinian Scholars Association. A founding member of Hamas in 1987, al-Hayya was repeatedly imprisoned by Israeli forces during a Palestinian uprising known as the first Intifada in the late 1980s, enduring severe torture during his detentions.
In 2006, he entered politics formally, winning a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council and leading the Hamas parliamentary bloc.
Over the past two decades, al-Hayya held critical organisational roles, including deputy leader of Hamas in Gaza and head of its Arab and Islamic relations office.
He played a crucial role in the movement’s diplomatic affairs, heading delegations during ceasefire negotiations following Israel’s wars on Gaza in 2012 and 2014.
Following the outbreak of the Israeli genocidal war in October 2023, al-Hayya served as Hamas’s chief negotiator in indirect ceasefire and captive exchange talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Operating primarily from Qatar, which began hosting Hamas’s political bureau in 2012 after what Qatari officials said were requests from the United States, allowed him to bypass the blockade on Gaza and coordinate diplomatic efforts across the region. He also engaged in key political manoeuvres, including leading a delegation to Lebanon in November 2023 to meet Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and surviving a January 2024 drone attack in Beirut that killed deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri.
Surviving assassinations
Al-Hayya’s political journey has been marked by repeated Israeli assassination attempts and heavy personal loss. In May 2007, an Israeli air raid on his family home killed seven relatives, including two brothers.
In 2008, his son Hamza, a member of the Qassam Brigades – Hamas’s military wing – was killed in a drone attack.
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During the 2014 war, an Israeli attack killed his eldest son Osama, his wife and three of their children. In September 2025, al-Hayya survived an Israeli attack on a residential complex in Qatar’s capital, Doha, which killed his son Humam, his office director Jihad Labad, three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer.
Earlier this year, another son, Azzam, died of injuries sustained during an Israeli air raid in May in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.
Wartime election
Despite the loss of multiple family members across successive conflicts, al-Hayya remained a central figure in Hamas’s political bureau, ultimately leading to his election as the movement’s overall chief nearly three years after the start of Israel’s latest war that has killed more than 73,000 people.
The decision to conduct a formal vote under ongoing military operations reflects Hamas’s “deep-seated institutionalism”, according to Palestinian political analyst Abdullah Aqrabawi.
“Rather than resorting to swift appointments or consensus decrees … the group has chosen a voting process,” Aqrabawi said, noting that the contested race showed a healthy internal debate on the movement’s strategic direction.
Under Hamas regulations, the responsibility of electing the head of the political bureau falls exclusively to the General Shura Council, rather than through a direct grassroots vote.
“In times of crisis, pre-existing emergency procedures and backup plans automatically trigger secondary administrative and leadership layers to assume control,” said Palestinian political analyst Wissam Afifa.
Ties with Iran
Observers of Hamas and Palestinian affairs expect al-Hayya to support a broader and deeper relationship with Iran.
Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in a congratulatory message that al-Hayya’s election showed he was a symbol of “resistance and martyrdom” and reaffirmed Hamas’s commitment to the “path of Islamic resistance.”
Four Hamas sources — two abroad and two in Gaza — rejected suggestions that the movement’s leadership was split into camps for and against Iran.
One source based abroad said closer ties with Tehran could become a defining feature of al-Hayya’s leadership.
“Greater openness toward Iran may be one of al-Hayya’s most distinguishing traits,” the source said, noting that he had built close ties with senior Iranian figures since becoming Sinwar’s deputy.
The two Gaza-based sources said Hamas’s political and military leadership in the enclave favored preserving the relationship because “no party offers Hamas more support than Iran.”
A fourth source, a senior Hamas official abroad, said any decision to expand ties with Iran or another country would require consensus within the movement.
“Hamas prefers openness toward all parties without rigidly favoring one over another,” he said, dismissing repeated media reports of rival pro- and anti-Iran camps as “far removed from reality.”
Foreign ties and ending the war
A senior Hamas source outside Gaza said al-Hayya would have to manage relations with host countries such as Qatar and Türkiye, as well as with Egypt, Iran, Syria’s new authorities and other states.
“But the conditions in the region impose a complex reality,” the source said.
The two Gaza-based sources said al-Hayya was likely to push for closer ties with Iran while preserving a more open relationship with Qatar and Türkiye.
One said that would not prevent continued contact with foreign governments, noting that al-Hayya had previously met and negotiated with US officials during Gaza ceasefire talks.
His most urgent challenge, however, will be securing a permanent end to the war in Gaza.
Al-Hayya led Hamas’s ceasefire negotiating team, but two Hamas sources said all major decisions in the talks had so far been made through full internal consultation.
A source inside Gaza said al-Hayya had won the full support of the movement’s political and military leadership in the enclave.
Gaza, the source said, had become Hamas’s center of gravity and remained at the heart of its most important files.
The weapons question
The future of Hamas’s weapons, already a central issue in ceasefire talks, may be the most dangerous challenge al-Hayya faces during his transitional term, the sources said.
Some factions, particularly inside Gaza, reject surrendering the weapons. Instead, they favor a long-term truce of at least 15 years, according to two sources in the enclave.
The sources said the issue remained deeply contentious. There was firm opposition to handing over the weapons, though some were open to restricting them.
Most favored storing the weapons under the supervision of mediators and refraining from using them, they said.
How al-Hayya will handle the issue remains unclear.
