ALBAWABA - A senior Palestinian official affiliated with Hamas told the BBC that the group is very close to choosing a new interim leader following the death of senior Hamas leaders in the latest war with Israel.
According to the BBC, this is the first election since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, which marked the start of the war in the Gaza Strip during which a number of Hamas leaders were killed in strikes carried out by Tel Aviv.
Yahya Sinwar, the former head of Hamas in Gaza, was killed by an Israeli strike in October 2024. Hamas political bureau leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was also assassinated in an Israeli attack in Iran in July 2024. In addition, the movement's military chief, Mohammed Deif, was also killed that July, in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.
Khaled Meshaal, exiled leader of the Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, addresses a rally in his honour on October 21, 2015, in Cape Town. Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP
Voting to elect a new political bureau leader is taking place across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and among Hamas's members elsewhere. The Palestinian official noted that Hamas "will issue a statement as soon as its leader is chosen, and it will most likely be issued during the month of Ramadan."
The main candidates to lead Hamas are:
1. Khalil al-Hayya, who leads Hamas in Gaza and is known for being close to Sinwar and Haniyeh. Al-Hayya was born in Gaza City on November 5, 1960. He is also the head of the Hamas negotiating delegation.
2. Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas abroad and one of the movement's veteran figures. He was born in the village of Silwad in the occupied West Bank in 1956 and was a former head of the movement's political bureau.
Khalil al-Hayya, senior leader and top Hamas legislative candidate, smiles during an interview with AFP at his office in Gaza City on April 21, 2021. Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
