Hamas names Khalil Al-Hayya as new overall leader

Hamas fighters are deployed in Rafah ahead of the planned release of two among six Israeli hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross, Gaza Strip, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

CAIRO -- Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group on Monday, in a move an analyst says could signal a tougher stance by the group towards disarmament calls.

Hayya replaces Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas fought a full-scale, two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, has become an increasingly central figure in the leadership of Hamas since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran in July 2024.

He is seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.

Hayya was among top Hamas officials targeted in 2025 in an Israeli attack in Doha, where he is based, Israeli officials told Reuters.

Conditions in Gaza

The militant Islamist group faces some of the toughest challenges since it was founded in 1987, battered by two years of war ignited by its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and facing international demands to disarm.

While fighting has abated in Gaza since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still holds more than 60 per cent of the coastal enclave, attacks continue, and conditions for Gaza’s 2 million people remain dire.

Israel says it targets Hamas and other Gaza militants who pose an imminent threat. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately comment on Hayya’s selection.

On Monday, an Israeli strike killed at least three Palestinians driving in a vehicle in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medics said. The Israeli military told Reuters it struck a militant in the area, without providing details.

The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,150 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza health officials. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.

Selection seen as message of defiance

Since Sinwar was killed, Hamas has resorted to a five-member higher council that included Hayya and Meshaal, in addition to three other officials.

The election of a Hamas chief is a lengthy process that began in January and was interrupted by the wars in Iran and Lebanon and continuing Israeli military operations in Gaza.

The selection is made by a 50-member council made up of Hamas members in Gaza, the occupied West Bank — including Israeli prisons — and those in exile.

Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said Hayya’s victory is a message that Hamas remains committed to armed struggle, rejects disarmament under any conditions, and intends to rebuild its military strength while preserving its alliance with Iran and the so-called “Axis of Resistance.”

“This indicates that negotiations related to disarmament are likely to face significant difficulties and obstacles,” Owda told Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza demands Hamas’ disarmament and Israeli military withdrawals. It foresees the enclave being run by a technocratic Palestinian administration overseen by Trump’s Board of Peace.

But talks between Hamas, mediators, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Trump’s Board of Peace envoys have so far failed to reach a broad agreement to end the conflict.

Hamas has drawn criticism within Gaza because of the heavy toll inflicted by the war, with much of the enclave reduced to ruins and more than 73,000 people killed, according to Gaza health authorities.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in their October 7, 2023, attack.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Eman Abouhassira