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The Palestinian group Hamas announced Monday that it has elected Khalil al-Hayya as head of its political bureau, succeeding Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli strike in October 2024.
A brief statement by the group said Hayya had been “elected head of the movement’s political bureau,” succeeding Sinwar.
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 Agence France-Presse (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 Al-Qassam Brigades, also declared their "full support" for Hayya.
The political bureau chief position has changed hands twice in just over a year. Ismail Haniyeh, who had led the bureau since 2017, was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024.
He was succeeded by Sinwar, widely regarded as the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2024, months into his tenure.
Al-Hayya has served as one of Hamas's most prominent figures in the period since Sinwar's death, acting as the movement's lead negotiator in ceasefire and hostage-release talks and operating primarily from Doha, Qatar.
Al-Hayya was among top officials targeted in an Israeli attack in Doha in 2025, Israeli officials told Reuters.
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