Hamas announces new leader selection process

On July 31, Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. His body was laid to rest in Lusail, a city 15 kilometers north of Doha, after a funeral service at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab Mosque in Doha.

Leaders attending the funeral in Doha were received by Khaled Meshaal, the Acting Chief of Hamas Political Bureau.

Announcement of the New Leader Selection

Hamas has announced that it has initiated a comprehensive consultation process to elect a new leader following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

Speculation in public statements has centered on Khaled Meshaal as the potential new leader. Haniyeh had been elected by the Hamas Shura Council to replace Meshaal as the Political Bureau Chief on May 6, 2017.

Who is Khaled Meshaal?

Khaled Meshaal was born in the village of Silwad, north of Ramallah in the West Bank. He studied physics at Kuwait University, where he became a student leader opposing Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization's dominance in the Palestinian cause. To this end, he founded the Islamist "Haqq Bloc," which competed with Fatah for leadership of the Palestinian Students' Union.

In 1983, the Palestinian Islamic movement held a secret meeting in an Arab country, attended by representatives from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian refugees, marking a milestone in Hamas' formation. Following Hamas' establishment in 1987, Meshaal headed the organization's Kuwait office.

After moving from Kuwait to Jordan in 1991, Meshaal survived an assassination attempt by Israel's intelligence agency Mossad in September 1997. Following Jordan's expulsion of Hamas leaders in 1999, he relocated to Damascus, Syria. With the onset of the Arab Spring in 2012, he left Damascus and has since resided in Qatar. Meshaal frequently visits Turkey to speak on the Palestinian issue.

Following the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in an Israeli missile strike in 2004, his successor Abdulaziz al-Rantisi announced Meshaal as his successor.