Report: Gazan Hamas members elected Khaled Mashaal as movement’s leader, unclear if other areas voted yet

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reports that Hamas members in the Gaza Strip have completed voting in internal elections and have elected Khaled Mashaal as overall leader of the movement — also known as head of its political bureau.

Khalil al-Hayya was elected Hamas leader in Gaza and Zaher Jabareen was picked the group’s head in the West Bank, the report says.

Al-Hayya and Jabareen were already serving in those roles without elections being held — they assumed the positions in the wake of Israel’s targeted killings of Yahya Sinwar and Saleh al-Arouri, respectively.

However, the report by the pro-Hezbollah daily notes that the results only reflect the Gaza vote.

It does not mention whether voting has already taken place in the other arenas that are also part of the overall decision-making process —- the West Bank and abroad.

The terror group has not yet issued an official statement on the matter.

Hamas generally holds leadership elections every four years, but the latest vote, initially scheduled for 2025, was delayed by the war sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre. During the war, Israel assassinated most of the group’s senior political and military commanders.

Read more: As Hamas prepares to choose 1st leader since Sinwar, postwar Gaza’s fate hangs in the balance