(FILES) Khalil al-Hayya, senior leader and top Hamas legislative candidate, gestures duringan interview with AFP at his office in Gaza City on April 21, 2021. Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on July 20, 2026 that it had elected Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s lead negotiator in indirect ceasefire talks with Israel, as the new head of its political bureau. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced Monday that it had elected Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s lead negotiator in indirect ceasefire talks with Israel, as the new head of its political bureau.
“The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announces the election of brother mujahid Khalil al-Hayya as head of the movement’s political bureau, succeeding the martyred leader Yahya al-Sinwar,” Hamas said in a statement.
Sinwar, whom Israel accused of being one of the principal architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza a year later.
Since his death, Hamas has been led by a five-member leadership council headed by long-time senior official Mohammed Darwish.
