Behind the scenes of Hamas’s selection of a new leader

Over the past week, under the watchful eyes of the world’s media, senior Hamas leaders arrived in Qatar to elect new political leaders for the organization.

The fighting between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip has lasted for nearly a year, and representatives from all over the Middle East have come.

Some arrived in shock, having learned only days earlier that the group’s former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had been killed in a bomb blast in Tehran that was allegedly carried out by Israel.

Haniyeh, who has led Hamas negotiators in talks with Israel, played a crucial role in Hamas, balancing the militant group’s desire to go to war with Israel and calls from some parts of Hamas to reach a reconciliation and end the conflict.

Obviously, his position had to be filled quickly.

At a mourning ceremony in Doha, Hamas leaders stood shoulder to shoulder inside a huge white tent with carpets and ornate chairs decorated with pictures of Ismail Haniyeh. Hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to the movement’s late leader and his bodyguards.

The scene was more than just a memorial service — it marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new, more extreme phase.

This was not the first time I had witnessed top Hamas officials gather to elect a new leader after an unexpected funeral. Back in 2004, I witnessed them meeting after Israel assassinated the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, at his home in Gaza. Less than a month later, Israel killed his successor, Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi.

But the discussions behind the scenes reflected the extent of the crisis and challenges they faced.

ReutersHundreds gather in Doha to mourn Haniyeh

On October 7 last year, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel’s military retaliation has killed more than 39,600 people and injured tens of thousands, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. More than half of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed, and almost all residents have been displaced. Opposition to Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has been growing. The group itself has also suffered heavy losses.

Besides this, the killing of Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran, which he had always considered his safe haven, was a real shock to the organization.

Hamas is convinced that Haniyeh was killed by an anti-personnel missile while browsing his phone. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said the missile used a 7-kilogram warhead. Some Western media reported that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb placed in the room in advance.

Back at the Haniyeh mourning ceremony in Doha, a man in his sixties with white hair and a short beard stood in a corner away from the spotlight.

“Keep a close eye on him,” a Hamas media official told me. Who is he? “He’s the mysterious figure, Abu Omar Hassan,” he said.

Abu Omar Hassan, also known as Mohammed Hassan Darwish, is the chairman of the Supreme Shura Council, Hamas’s top consultative body. Under Hamas’s charter, he is in the best position to serve as the group’s interim president until elections scheduled for March next year.

I was told: “He is a man on a great mission.”

After the mourning ceremony, the real work for these leaders began. For two days, the movement’s senior faces and behind-the-scenes figures met in Doha, the seat of Hamas’s political bureau since 2012, to elect new leaders.

Getty ImagesIsrael’s military offensive leaves much of Gaza in ruins

They chose Yahya Sinwar, who has been the group’s leader in Gaza since 2017. The choice may surprise many, but anyone who has followed his career since Israel released him under a 2011 deal in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit knew he would likely lead Hamas one day.

No political leader of Hamas has ever been so close to the group’s armed wing. His brother, Mohammed, leads Hamas’s largest military battalion, and Mohammed Dave — the elusive Hamas veteran who led the armed wing for two decades until he was killed by Israel last month — is his neighbor, friend and classmate. The two grew up together in Gaza’s sprawling Khan Younis refugee camp.

Still, many might consider his appointment to Hamas’s most important post a mad move. Israeli security agencies believe Sinwar planned and carried out the attacks in southern Israel and is at the top of their wanted list.

“Not everyone within the Hamas leadership supported the decision,” a senior Hamas official told me. “Some leaders expressed their concerns, and others pushed for a more moderate candidate. But in the end he received the majority of votes.”

Another Hamas official who attended the meeting said the movement felt it could not choose powerful shadow operator Abu Omar Hassan because he had a low public profile and was unknown outside the movement, while the October 7 attack had brought global notoriety to Yahya Sinwar.

“After October 7, Sinwar has become an icon and he enjoys high popularity in the Arab and Islamic world. He is close to the Iranian-backed resistance axis and his appointment during the war sent a signal of defiance to Israel,” the official said.

The “resistance axis” is a network of armed groups backed by Iran. Other members, such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, also pose a threat to Israel.