Following the assassination of political and military leader Yahya Sinwar, the question of who will assume the leadership of Hamas is now under close examination.
According to a report in The National, Hamas will not elect a new leader until 2025. Sources indicate that the six-member Shura Council assumed control of Hamas shortly after Sinwar’s assassination.
The Shura Council represents Hamas members in Gaza, the West Bank, Israeli prisons, and the Palestinian diaspora. The Council, which serves as the supreme decision-making body, will choose a new leader in 2025.
Hamas has been operating under a collective leadership structure, a model that was used in Gaza in the 1990s when Ahmed Yassin served as the group’s spiritual leader.
Sources speaking to The National identified key figures in this collective leadership, including Khaled Meshaal, who led Hamas until 2017, Khalil al-Hayya, and Zahir Jabbarin, the group’s intelligence and finance chief. All three are based in Qatar, though Jabbarin also spends time in Turkey.
The collective leadership also includes Yahya Sinwar’s younger brother, Mohammed Sinwar, and Rawhi Mushtaha, whom Israel claims to have killed, though sources suggest he is still alive. Both men are veterans of Hamas’s military wing and are currently “operational field commanders.” The sixth member is Shura Council Chairman Mohammed Darwish, who is based in Turkey.
While Hamas is not expected to choose a new leader until the elections in early 2025, sources confirm that Khalil al-Hayya has emerged as the most likely successor to Sinwar.
Al-Hayya, 63, is known for his close ties with both Iran and Egypt. He was Hamas’ chief representative in Gaza ceasefire negotiations and has been a key figure in the organization since its founding. In the early 1990s, he was imprisoned by Israel for three years and survived several assassination attempts, during which around 30 members of his family, including two of his sons, were killed.
In the wake of Sinwar’s death, al-Hayya stated that Hamas will continue to work towards the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. However, his ascension to leadership is not guaranteed; some sources believe Khaled Meshaal also has a chance to take over.
Experts suggest that, unlike when Sinwar merged the political and military leadership after replacing political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, such a merger is unlikely this time. It is expected that Hamas will once again separate its political and military leadership roles.
