Who is Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s newly elected political chief? 

Palestinian group Hamas has announced the election of Khalil al-Hayya as the new head of its political bureau.

Al-Hayya’s election on Monday follows the killing of the previous leader, Yahya Sinwar, by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in 2024. Sinwar had taken over after the Israeli assassination of political head Ismail Haniyeh earlier that year. Al-Hayya himself survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar last year.

His appointment came after a run-off vote within the movement’s General Shura Council against former political chief Khaled Meshaal, after neither candidate secured the required 50 percent plus one majority in earlier voting.

The election of al-Hayya, formerly the group’s exiled Gaza leader, is in line with Hamas’s internal 2021 framework requiring top leadership positions to reflect its key geographical sectors – the other two being the occupied West Bank and the diaspora.

Al-Hayya, who was part of a temporary five-man ruling council established in late 2024 to handle wartime governance, will now serve out the remainder of the current electoral term ending in 2027.

Academic roots and early activism

Born in Gaza City on November 5, 1960, al-Hayya grew up in a conservative family deeply scarred by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the subsequent Israeli occupation. Witnessing military raids on his Gaza family home and the arrest of relatives during his childhood shaped his early political consciousness.

In March 1980, a pivotal meeting with Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin drew him into organised activism. Al-Hayya pursued extensive Islamic studies, obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1983, a master’s degree from the University of Jordan in 1986, and a doctorate in hadith sciences from Sudan in 1997.

He later served as the dean of student affairs at the Islamic University of Gaza and joined the Palestinian Scholars Association. A founding member of Hamas in 1987, al-Hayya was repeatedly imprisoned by Israeli forces during a Palestinian uprising known as the first Intifada in the late 1980s, enduring severe torture during his detentions.

In 2006, he entered politics formally, winning a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council and leading the Hamas parliamentary bloc.

Chief negotiator and diplomat

Over the past two decades, al-Hayya held critical organisational roles, including deputy leader of Hamas in Gaza and head of its Arab and Islamic relations office.

He played a crucial role in the movement’s diplomatic affairs, heading delegations during ceasefire negotiations following Israel’s wars on Gaza in 2012 and 2014.

Following the outbreak of the Israeli genocidal war in October 2023, al-Hayya served as Hamas’s chief negotiator in indirect ceasefire and captive exchange talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

Operating primarily from Qatar, which began hosting Hamas’s political bureau in 2012 after what Qatari officials said were requests from the United States, allowed him to bypass the blockade on Gaza and coordinate diplomatic efforts across the region. He also engaged in key political manoeuvres, including leading a delegation to Lebanon in November 2023 to meet Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and surviving a January 2024 drone attack in Beirut that killed deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri.

Surviving assassinations

Al-Hayya’s political journey has been marked by repeated Israeli assassination attempts and heavy personal loss. In May 2007, an Israeli air raid on his family home killed seven relatives, including two brothers.

In 2008, his son Hamza, a member of the Qassam Brigades – Hamas’s military wing – was killed in a drone attack.

During the 2014 war, an Israeli attack killed his eldest son Osama, his wife and three of their children. In September 2025, al-Hayya survived an Israeli attack on a residential complex in Qatar’s capital, Doha, which killed his son Humam, his office director Jihad Labad, three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer.

Earlier this year, another son, Azzam, died of injuries sustained during an Israeli air raid in May in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.

Despite the loss of multiple family members across successive conflicts, al-Hayya remained a central figure in Hamas’s political bureau, ultimately leading to his election as the movement’s overall chief nearly three years after the start of Israel’s latest war that has killed more than 73,000 people.

The decision to conduct a formal vote under ongoing military operations reflects Hamas’s “deep-seated institutionalism”, according to Palestinian political analyst Abdullah Aqrabawi.

“Rather than resorting to swift appointments or consensus decrees … the group has chosen a voting process,” Aqrabawi said, noting that the contested race showed a healthy internal debate on the movement’s strategic direction.

Under Hamas regulations, the responsibility of electing the head of the political bureau falls exclusively to the General Shura Council, rather than through a direct grassroots vote.

“In times of crisis, pre-existing emergency procedures and backup plans automatically trigger secondary administrative and leadership layers to assume control,” said Palestinian political analyst Wissam Afifa.