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Hamas elections

Senior Hamas members Khaled Mashaal (L), Musa Abu Marzouk (C), and Khalil Al-Hayya attending a meeting between Iran's Foreign Minister and Hamas' political bureau chief, October 31, 2023, Doha, Qatar. (Credit Image: © Iranian Foreign Ministry via ZUMA Press Wire)
May 31, 2026, 11:49 pm
EU sanctions Hamas politburo members along with four settler groups
Bloc names Khaled Mashaal, nine other officials in terror group for ‘promoting, defending’ ‘violence’; move comes day after confirmed sanctions on settler groups
By Nava Freiberg
A composite image of five members of Hamas's leadership targeted by Israel in Qatar on September 9, 2025, L-R: Zaher Jabarin, Khaled Mashaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, Nizar Awadallah. (Mahmud Hams/Louai Beshara/KHAMENEI.IR/AFP)
January 13, 2026, 5:43 am
Hamas seeks to rebuild shattered leadership as it faces postwar uncertainty
Vote for political bureau set to take place early this year, with Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Mashaal seen as top contenders to lead terror group under pressure to disarm
By AFP and ToI Staff
Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal at an African National Congress rally in Hamas's honor in Cape Town, South Africa, October 21, 2015. (AFP Photo/Rodger Bosch/File)
April 12, 2021, 8:11 pm
Khaled Mashaal tapped as Hamas’s diaspora director
Group’s former terror chief was said to eye a comeback in ongoing Hamas elections
By Aaron Boxerman
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, speaks to foreign correspondents in his office in Gaza City, May 10, 2018. (Khalil Hamra/AP)
March 10, 2021, 6:28 pm
Sinwar wins 2nd term as Hamas Gaza chief after tense election standoff
Three rounds of voting on Tuesday night failed to yield victor; terror group’s internal elections are conducted in secret
By Aaron Boxerman
Illustrative: Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a press conference in Gaza City on May 30, 2019. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
March 9, 2021, 6:58 pm
Hamas leadership vote turns into dramatic standoff as Sinwar seeks reelection
Three rounds of voting fail to produce a clear outcome, 4th vote said delayed; Sinwar’s chief opponent, Nizar Awadullah, played a key role in 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange
By Aaron Boxerman
Palestinians receive their monthly food aid from a UN distribution centre in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, last year. (photo credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
April 23, 2017, 1:05 am
UNRWA’s Gaza union head, accused of Hamas ties, no longer employed by agency
Israel has said that school principal Suhail al-Hindi was elected to a leadership role in the terror group in February vote
By ToI Staff and AP
Illustrative: IDF soldiers during an arrest raid in the central West Bank on February 23, 2017. (Israel Defense Forces)
March 27, 2017, 9:06 am
Israel arrests senior Hamas operative in West Bank raid
Detention of Rafat Nasif, who has spent decades in and out of prison, linked to secretive elections underway for group’s West Bank leadership
By Judah Ari Gross and ToI Staff
Palestinians receive their monthly food aid at a United Nations distribution center in the Rafah refugee camp, in southern Gaza Strip, February 8, 2015 (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
March 7, 2017, 12:57 am
Top UN staffer in Gaza said elected to Hamas leadership
Muhammad al-Jamassi, UNRWA’s infrastructure chief, reportedly sits on terror group’s political bureau; UNRWA last week suspended teacher accused of senior Hamas role
By ToI Staff
Yahya Sinwar (screenshot)
February 13, 2017, 11:47 pm
No ‘radical change’ despite new extremist leader, Hamas official says
Hamas movement is ‘institutional’ says Moussa Abu Marzouk, after election of convicted murderer Yahya Sinwar
By Dov Lieber
Hamas MP and imam Dr. Yunis Al Astal (screen capture: YouTube)
July 31, 2016, 10:21 pm
Gaza imam: Vote for Hamas or you’re a heretic
Cleric says only way to atone for wrong choice in upcoming Palestinian municipal elections is pilgrimage to Mecca
By Dov Lieber
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures to the crowd as he takes part in a rally marking the 28th anniversary of Hamas's founding, in Gaza City on December 14, 2015. (Emad Nassar/Flash90)
July 28, 2016, 2:52 pm
Hamas ready to pounce on weak Fatah in local elections, experts say
Gaza-ruling terror group now says it will take part in vote set for October; after all, it has won the only two major elections in which it ever competed
By Dov Lieber
Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal at a rally in Hamas's honor in Cape Town, South Africa, October 21, 2015. (AFP/Rodger Bosch)
June 15, 2016, 8:58 am
Khaled Mashaal to step down as Hamas leader — report
Political chief said to forgo reelection bid in upcoming leadership vote
By Dov Lieber
Palestinian students who support the Hamas movement take part in an election campaign rally for the student council at Birzeit University, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 26, 2016 (AFP/Abbas Momani)
April 28, 2016, 9:34 pm
Hamas beats Fatah in student elections at West Bank university
Terror group hails second consecutive victory at Birzeit as proof that Palestinian street supports ‘Jerusalem Intifada’
By Dov Lieber
Palestinians hold up Hamas flags (photo credit: Matanya Tausig/Flash90)
May 27, 2012, 6:25 am
Hamas to announce leadership election results next month
Secretive month-long process selecting Shura Council to shape policies: group will not formally renounce violence or recognize Israel
Ismail Haniya visiting Tunisia in January (photo credit: Mohammed Al-Ostaz/Flash90)
From the WebApril 24, 2012, 3:45 pm
Haniyeh elected new Gazan Hamas political leader
Haaretz: Secret internal elections also see two of Gilad Shalit’s abductors enter the Hamas politburo
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