Hamas to elect first leader since Sinwar killed by Israel

GAZA CITY

Hamas is preparing to hold internal elections to rebuild its leadership, decimated by Israeli killings during the war in Gaza, sources in the group have told AFP.

With international powers and Israel pushing for it to be disarmed and have no role in Gaza's future governance, its new leaders will face an uncertain future.

The group also rules over a territory devastated by two years of war, with its more than two million residents facing dire humanitarian conditions, and Israeli troops still occupying much of the Strip.

"Internal preparations are still ongoing in order to hold the elections at the appropriate time in areas where conditions on the ground allow it," a Hamas leader told AFP.

The vote is expected to take place "in the first months of 2026."

The leadership renewal process includes the formation of a new 50-member Shura Council, a consultative body dominated by religious figures.

Its members are selected every four years by Hamas' three branches: the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and the movement's external leadership.

That council is responsible, also every four years, for electing the 18-member political bureau and its chief, who serves as Hamas's overall leader.

Another Hamas source close to the process said the timing of the political bureau elections remains uncertain "given the circumstances our people are going through."

After Israel killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024, the group chose its then-Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar as his successor. Israel accused Sinwar of masterminding the Oct. 7 attack.

He too was killed by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, three months after Haniyeh's assassination.

Hamas then opted for an interim five-member leadership committee based in Qatar, postponing the appointment of a single leader until elections are held and given the risk of being targeted by Israel.

All the sources spoken to by AFP mentioned two frontrunners to head its political bureau: Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal.

Hayya, a Gaza native and Hamas's chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, has held senior roles since at least 2006, according to the U.S.-based NGO the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).

Meshaal, who led the Political Bureau from 2004 to 2017, has never lived in Gaza. He was born in the West Bank in 1956.

The CEP says he oversaw Hamas' evolution into a political-military hybrid. He currently heads the movement's diaspora office.