Hamas has appointed Khalil Al-Hayya as its new overall leader, replacing Yahya Sinwar, in a move that signals the group’s determination to maintain its armed wing despite growing international pressure to disarm.
The announcement, made by Hamas on Monday, comes nearly two years after Sinwar was killed during fighting with Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2024.
Al-Hayya, Hamas’ exiled Gaza chief and chief negotiator, has emerged as one of the movement’s most influential figures since the deaths of Sinwar and former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran in July 2024.
Based in Doha, Al-Hayya survived an Israeli strike in the Qatari capital in 2025 that reportedly targeted senior Hamas officials.
He was widely regarded as a leading contender for the movement’s top position alongside Khaled Meshaal, but is generally viewed as taking a tougher stance on key issues.
His appointment comes at a critical moment for Hamas, which has been left militarily weakened after two years of war with Israel and is facing increasing international demands to surrender its weapons.
Although large-scale fighting eased following a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still controls more than 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, sporadic attacks continue, and humanitarian conditions remain dire for the enclave’s roughly two million residents.
On Monday, Palestinian medics said an Israeli airstrike killed three people travelling in a vehicle in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. The Israeli military said it had targeted a militant operating in the area but provided no further details.
According to Gaza health authorities, more than 1,150 Palestinians most of them civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed by militants during the same period.
Hamas does not publicly disclose its own casualty figures.
Since Sinwar’s death, Hamas has been governed by a five-member leadership council that included Al-Hayya, Meshaal and three other senior officials.
The process of selecting a new leader began in January but was delayed by the conflicts involving Iran and Lebanon, as well as continued Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The election was conducted by a 50-member council representing Hamas members in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Israeli prisons and the group’s leadership in exile.
Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said Al-Hayya’s emergence sends a clear signal that Hamas has no intention of abandoning armed resistance or severing its alliance with Iran and the so-called “Axis of Resistance.”
According to her, the decision suggests negotiations over Hamas’ disarmament are likely to remain deadlocked.
The issue remains one of the biggest obstacles to U.S.-led efforts to secure a lasting peace. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal calls for Hamas to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza and the territory to be administered by a technocratic Palestinian authority overseen by Trump’s proposed Board of Peace.
Despite mediation efforts involving Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and U.S. envoys, negotiators have yet to reach a comprehensive agreement to permanently end the conflict.
The war has also fuelled criticism of Hamas within Gaza, where widespread destruction has left much of the enclave in ruins.
Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 people have been killed since the conflict began.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, during which militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
