Hamas says politburo, secretive Shura Council working to replace Haniyeh

Hamas has begun consultations to appoint a new leader following the killing of its politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

In a statement, the terror group announces that its political bureau and its Shura Council have convened urgent meetings to discuss a successor for Haniyeh, as it did when other leaders were “martyred” in the past.

The Shura Council is a secret consultative body composed of officials elected by Hamas members in four chapters: Gaza, the West Bank, the diaspora and prisoners in Israeli jails. Once a mostly religious body, today it also comprises political and socially prominent figures.

Pundits believe that the two frontrunners to replace Haniyeh are Khaled Mashaal, a founding member of Hamas’s politburo who helmed the terror group between 2004 and 2017, and Khalil al-Hayya, a powerful figure within Hamas who was close to the slain leader.