The Palestinian movement Hamas is planning to hold internal elections in the coming months to choose its new leadership, after Israel killed most of its senior leaders during the Gaza war.
Hamas announced earlier that it prepares to transfer governance in Gaza to an independent Palestinian body under the US-brokered peace plan.
Internal Elections
The Palestinian group is set to rebuild its leadership through internal elections, after it had lost many of its senior figures during its war with Israel, AFP reported on Monday, citing Hamas sources.
“Internal preparations are still ongoing in order to hold the elections at the appropriate time in areas where conditions on the ground allow it,” a Hamas source said, expecting the vote to take place “in the first months of 2026.”
However, another source suggested that the timing of the political bureau elections remain unknown “given the circumstances our people are going through.”
Electoral Process
According to AFP, the leadership electoral process involves the formation of a new Shura council, a consultative body comprising 50 members, most of them religious figures.
Every four years, Hamas members in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and in-exile leadership, as well as Hamas prisoners in Israeli prisons, elect the members of the Council. Before the war, this process took place in different locations, including mosques, across Gaza and the West Bank.
The Shura Council is responsible for electing the 18 members of Hamas’ political bureau and its chief, who acts as the overall leader of the group.
Ismail Haniyeh was Hamas’ chief until Israel assassinated him in July 2024 in Tehran. Then, the group chose Yahia Sinwar to succeed him. But Israel killed him too three months later in Rafah.
Against this backdrop, Hamas chose an interim five-member leadership committee based in Qatar, postponing the appointment of a single leader out of concern that Israel could target him.
Potential Contenders
The sources suggested that the main frontrunners for leading Hamas’ political bureau are Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal, while other potential candidates could emerge, including West Bank Hamas leader Zaher Jabarin and Shura Council head Nizar Awadallah.
Al-Hayya was the group’s chief negotiator in the Gaza ceasefire talks. Meanwhile, Meshaal, was the Political Bureau chief from 2004 to 2017, but has never lived in Gaza.
A Hamas source in Gaza told AFP that al-Hayya has a higher chance given his ties to other Palestinian factions, including Fatah which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). He also enjoys a strong regional standing and has the support of the Shura Council and Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
Handover of Gaza Governance
On Sunday, Hamas announced it will dissolve its current government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership assumes control of the territory, as part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the enclave, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Under the plan, Trump will form a “Board of Peace,” an international transitional body that will oversee a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee. This committee is made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts and will handle delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza.
Trump is expected to announce the members of the Borad of Peace on Tuesday. The board will also handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), additional withdrawals of Israeli troops and Gaza’s reconstruction.
However, Hamas and the PA have not announced the names of the technocrats. In remarks on Telegram on Sunday, Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee.
An Egyptian official told the AP that Hamas was sending a delegation, chaired by al-Hayya, for discussions with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators, adding that the group will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalize the committee’s formation.
