Hamas plans internal elections to rebuild its leadership after wartime losses, with a new Shura Council and political bureau chief to be chosen.
GAZA CITY: Hamas is preparing to hold internal leadership elections in the coming months, according to sources within the Palestinian group.
The move aims to rebuild its command structure following the killing of several top figures by Israel during the war in Gaza.
A Hamas leader stated that internal preparations are ongoing to hold the elections “at the appropriate time in areas where conditions on the ground allow it.”
The vote is expected to take place in the first months of 2026.
The war has decimated much of the group’s senior leadership since it began in October 2023.
The leadership renewal process includes forming a new 50-member Shura Council, a consultative body dominated by religious figures.
Its members are selected every four years by Hamas’s branches in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and its external leadership.
Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails are also eligible to vote.
That council is responsible for electing the 18-member political bureau and its chief, who serves as Hamas’s overall leader.
A source close to the process said the timing of the political bureau elections remains uncertain given the current circumstances.
After Israel killed chief Ismail Haniyeh in 2024, the group chose Yahya Sinwar as his successor.
Sinwar was also killed by Israeli forces three months later in Rafah.
Hamas then established an interim five-member leadership committee based in Qatar.
Two figures have emerged as frontrunners to lead the political bureau: Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal.
Hayya, a Gaza native and Hamas’s chief negotiator, has held senior roles since at least 2006.
Meshaal, who led the Political Bureau from 2004 to 2017, was born in the West Bank and currently heads the movement’s diaspora office.
A Hamas member in Gaza said Hayya is a strong contender due to his relations with other Palestinian factions and his regional standing.
He also enjoys backing from both the Shura Council and Hamas’s military wing.
Other potential candidates include West Bank leader Zaher Jabarin and Shura Council head Nizar Awadallah.
