Following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of Hamas, in Tehran, the Palestinian movement has initiated the process of selecting his successor.
In a statement released on Saturday, Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, announced it has started “a wide-ranging consultative process within its leadership and advisory bodies to choose a new head of the movement.”
The movement also dismissed rumours circulating in the media and on social platforms about specific names being assigned to fill the leadership role, stating that these claims are baseless.
Sources from Al Arabiya/The Event reported that Hamas conducted consultations in Qatar to decide on Haniyeh’s successor.
They added that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, opposes the appointment of former leader Khaled Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 and currently resides in Qatar.
Sinwar reportedly favours Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of the political bureau, as Haniyeh‘s successor.
Sources highlighted Sinwar’s preference for a leader with good relations with Iran and Syria.
The leadership choice is expected to be temporary, pending internal elections within Hamas in the coming months.
Haniyeh had led the political bureau until his assassination, with his deputy Saleh al-Arouri, killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in January, having been expected to succeed him automatically. Al-Arouri’s position has remained vacant since his death.
Experts believe that regardless of who becomes Haniyeh’s successor, it will not significantly alter how Hamas conducts its conflict against Israel in Gaza, where leaders like Yahya Sinwar maintain a high degree of autonomy during conflicts.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced on Wednesday that Haniyeh was killed alongside a personal bodyguard at his residence in Tehran following his attendance at the inauguration of Iran’s reformist President, Masoud Bazshkian.
While Iran has blamed Israel for his death, the Israeli government has declined to comment.
The region faces an increased risk of escalated conflict between Israel, Iran, and their allies following the assassinations of Haniyeh in Tehran and Fouad Shukr in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
