Hamas elects Khalil al-Hayya as political bureau chief
The Gaza-born negotiator succeeds Yahya Sinwar after a Shura Council runoff, according to Hamas and Al Jazeera.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Hamas has elected Khalil al-Hayya as head of its political bureau, the Palestinian group announced Monday. The choice places a veteran Gaza-born official and ceasefire negotiator at the top of the movement after a series of Israeli killings and attempted assassinations of senior Hamas figures, Al Jazeera reported.
Al-Hayya’s election follows the killing of Yahya Sinwar by the Israeli army in Gaza in 2024, according to Al Jazeera. Sinwar had become political chief after Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh earlier that year, the outlet reported.
According to Al Jazeera, al-Hayya won after a runoff inside Hamas’s General Shura Council against Khaled Meshaal, a former political bureau chief. Earlier rounds had failed to give either candidate the required majority of 50 percent plus one, Al Jazeera reported.
The election also follows Hamas’s internal 2021 framework requiring top posts to reflect the movement’s main geographic sectors: Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the diaspora, according to Al Jazeera. Al-Hayya, previously Hamas’s exiled Gaza leader, had been part of a five-member temporary ruling council created in late 2024 to manage wartime leadership and is due to serve until the current electoral term ends in 2027, the outlet reported.
From Gaza academic to senior Hamas official
Al-Hayya was born in Gaza City on Nov. 5, 1960, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said his early political views were shaped by Israeli military raids on his family home and the arrest of relatives after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Israel’s occupation.
Al Jazeera reported that al-Hayya became involved in organized activism after meeting Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March 1980. He studied Islamic sciences, earning degrees from the Islamic University of Gaza, the University of Jordan and a doctorate in hadith sciences in Sudan, according to the outlet.
He later served as dean of student affairs at the Islamic University of Gaza and joined the Palestinian Scholars Association, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said he was a founding member of Hamas in 1987 and was repeatedly imprisoned by Israeli forces during the first Intifada.
In 2006, al-Hayya won a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council and led the Hamas parliamentary bloc, according to Al Jazeera. Over the next two decades, he held senior roles including deputy leader of Hamas in Gaza and head of the group’s Arab and Islamic relations office, the outlet reported.
Negotiator based largely in Qatar
Al-Hayya led Hamas delegations in ceasefire talks after Israel’s wars on Gaza in 2012 and 2014, according to Al Jazeera. Since the war that began in October 2023, he has served as Hamas’s chief negotiator in indirect ceasefire and captive exchange talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the outlet reported.
Al Jazeera said al-Hayya has operated mainly from Qatar, which began hosting Hamas’s political bureau in 2012 after Qatari officials said the United States requested it. The outlet reported that he also led a Hamas delegation to Lebanon in November 2023 to meet Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Al-Hayya has survived several Israeli attacks, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet reported that a 2007 Israeli air raid on his family home killed seven relatives, including two brothers, and that Israeli strikes later killed several of his sons and other family members.
In September 2025, al-Hayya survived an Israeli attack on a residential complex in Doha that killed his son Humam, his office director Jihad Labad, three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer, Al Jazeera reported. Another son, Azzam, died this year from wounds sustained in an Israeli air raid in Gaza City, according to the outlet.
Palestinian political analyst Abdullah Aqrabawi told Al Jazeera that Hamas’s decision to hold a vote during wartime reflected what he called the movement’s “deep-seated institutionalism.” Another analyst, Wissam Afifa, told the outlet that Hamas regulations give the General Shura Council sole authority to elect the political bureau chief and that emergency procedures activate backup leadership layers during crises.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.