Hamas names Khalil al-Hayya as new leader after run-off with Khaled Meshaal

What the report says

Al Jazeera reported that Hamas has chosen Khalil al-Hayya as its new leader, replacing Yahya Sinwar, who the outlet said was killed by the Israeli army in October 2024. Hamas said in a statement on Monday that al-Hayya won an internal vote after a run-off with Khaled Meshaal, the group’s former political leader.

Al-Hayya had been a former deputy chairman of Hamas and was serving on a five-member leadership council created in late 2024 after major losses in the group’s senior ranks. Al Jazeera said his role grew following the killings of Sinwar, military commander Mohammed Deif in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran in 2024. He was also Hamas’s lead negotiator when a ceasefire agreement with Israel was reached in October 2025, though the report said deadly Israeli attacks in Gaza have continued.

According to Al Jazeera, al-Hayya was born in Gaza in 1960, joined Hamas from its founding in 1987 and was elected to the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. In recent years he has operated largely from Qatar, which has been a key venue for mediation involving Israel, Egypt and the United States. The outlet said he has survived at least two Israeli assassination attempts and that several members of his family have been killed in Israeli attacks.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Israel had not officially responded to the leadership vote. The selection matters because it places a senior negotiator and long-time Hamas figure at the head of the group during a fragile ceasefire period and continuing regional mediation over Gaza.