Hamas announced on Monday that it had elected Khalil al-Hayya as head of its political bureau, formally filling the leadership position left vacant following the killing of Yahya Sinwar.

The Palestinian movement said in a brief statement that al-Hayya had been elected to succeed Sinwar, who was killed during a confrontation with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip in October 2024.

Al-Hayya, Hamas’s chief negotiator and its most senior Gaza representative living abroad, has become an increasingly prominent figure within the movement’s leadership.

His influence grew following the deaths of Sinwar and former political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July 2024.

Al-Hayya has led Hamas delegations in indirect negotiations with Israel over ceasefires in Gaza and prisoner exchanges. He was also part of the five-member council that collectively managed the movement following Sinwar’s death.

Hamas’s approximately 50-member Shura Council selected al-Hayya after an internal election process in which former political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal was considered his main rival.

Israeli officials previously told Reuters that al-Hayya was among the senior Hamas figures targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Doha in September 2025. Al-Hayya survived the attack.

His election comes as Hamas faces international pressure to disarm and decide its future political and military role following two years of war in Gaza.

The appointment also places one of the movement’s most experienced negotiators at the centre of any future talks concerning a permanent ceasefire, Gaza’s reconstruction and the territory’s political administration.