Hamas names negotiator al-Hayya as new overall leader
According to the statement made by the Palestinian militant group, Hamas has chosen Khalil al-Hayya as its overall leader; One analyst says the move could signal a tougher stance against the group’s calls for disarmament.
Hayya replaces Yahya al-Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas waged a full-scale two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza Strip chief and chief negotiator, has become an increasingly central figure in the Hamas leadership since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who were killed in Iran in July 2024.
He is the head of the group’s office in exile and is seen as a tougher figure than the leadership’s other leader, Khaled Meshaal.
Israeli officials told Reuters that Hayya was among the senior Hamas officials targeted in the Israeli attack on Doha, the capital of Qatar, where he was based in 2025.
Hayya was born in the Gaza Strip but has spent most of his time in Qatar in recent years.
Last year, the Israeli air force attempted to attack senior leaders of Hamas in Doha, with Hayya reportedly being one of the targets.
Four of his sons were killed in Israeli attacks, including one in the attack in Doha.
The militant Islamist group faces its toughest challenges since its founding in 1987; It is battered by two years of war sparked by the Israeli attack on October 7, 2023, and faces international demands for disarmament.
Although fighting in the Gaza Strip has eased since a US-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still holds more than 60 percent of the coastline, attacks continue and the situation for the region’s two million people remains dire.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other Gazan militants who pose an imminent threat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately comment on Hayya’s selection.
At least three Palestinians who were driving in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, were killed in an Israeli attack on Monday, medics said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the matter.
The deaths add to more than 1,150 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed in Israeli strikes since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza health officials.
During the same period, four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants.
Hamas generally does not disclose its losses.
Since Sinwar’s killing, Hamas has appealed to a five-member supreme council that includes Hayya and Meshaal, among three other officials.
The election of the Hamas chief is a long process that began in January and has been interrupted by wars in Iran and Lebanon and ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The election is being held by a 50-member council made up of Hamas members from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, including Israeli prisons, and exiles.
Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said Hayya’s victory was a message that Hamas remains committed to armed struggle, refuses to disarm under any circumstances, and intends to rebuild its military power while maintaining its alliance with Iran and the so-called “Axis of Resistance”.
“This suggests that negotiations on disarmament are likely to face significant difficulties and obstacles,” Owda told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan calls for the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of the Israeli army.
It envisions the Gaza Strip being governed by a technocratic Palestinian administration overseen by Trump’s Peace Board.
But talks between Hamas, mediators, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and Trump’s Peace Board envoys have so far failed to reach a broad agreement to end the conflict.
with DPA
