The Palestinian group announced on Monday that al-Hayya had been elected head of its political bureau, succeeding Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in fighting with Israeli forces in Rafah in October 2024. [Getty]
Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group on Monday.
The Palestinian group announced on Monday that al-Hayya had been elected head of its political bureau, succeeding Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in fighting with Israeli forces in Rafah in October 2024.
Al-Hayya, who has headed Hamas in Gaza since Sinwar’s death, also led the group’s ceasefire and prisoner exchange negotiations, and emerged as one of the movement’s most influential figures after the killings of Sinwar and former political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Following the deaths of Haniyeh and Sinwar, Hamas formed a temporary collective leadership that included al-Hayya, Shura Council chairman Mohammed Darwish, West Bank leader Zaher Jabarin, external leader Khaled Meshaal, and senior official Nizar Awadallah.
His election completes the remainder of the current leadership term within Hamas, which began with internal elections in 2021, pending a new round of comprehensive internal elections. The appointment is seen as maintaining the organisational influence of Gaza-based leaders within the movement.
Born in Gaza on 5 November 1960, al-Hayya, widely known by his nom de guerre Abu Osama, holds a doctorate in Sunnah and Hadith sciences from the Holy Quran and Islamic Sciences University in Sudan, as well as postgraduate and undergraduate degrees in Islamic studies from universities in Jordan and Gaza.
He was imprisoned by Israel for three years in the early 1990s before returning to Hamas, where he rose through the group’s ranks over more than three decades.
Al-Hayya was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 as a Hamas candidate and later headed the movement’s electoral list for the 2021 Palestinian legislative elections, which were cancelled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before they took place.
He has survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts. In 2007, an Israeli airstrike targeting him killed seven members of his family after he was not present at the targeted location.
During Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, another strike targeting al-Hayya killed his son Osama, Osama’s wife and children, along with 19 other relatives after their home in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighbourhood was shelled.
In September 2025, al-Hayya survived an Israeli airstrike on a residential complex in Doha that targeted senior Hamas officials. The attack killed his son, Hammam, and his office director, Jihad Labad, according to Hamas.
Since the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, al-Hayya has led Hamas’ negotiating team in indirect ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks alongside senior officials, including Ghazi Hamad, Zaher Jabarin, and Mohammed Nasr. He has been the movement’s principal public face in negotiations with regional mediators.
