Hamas rebuilding Gaza leadership from Sinwar’s circle

At the top of the military wing still stands Izz al-Din al-Haddad, a former Fatah member; he is the only Hamas brigade commander not eliminated in the war.

By Shachar Kleinman, Israel Hayom via JNS

Amid the storm surrounding the establishment of President Donald Trump’s Gaza Peace Board, many senior figures remain in the Gaza Hamas leadership.

These individuals are responsible for an attempted force buildup, ongoing violations, refusal to disarm, and a three-month delay in returning all deceased hostages.

At the top of the Gaza pyramid, associates of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar have reemerged, taking the places of senior figures eliminated during the war.

The Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported earlier this month that Ali al-Amodi, one of the prisoners released in the 2011 Shalit deal, has become the de facto head of the Gaza Bureau.

Al-Amodi headed the propaganda apparatus in Gaza and used to accompany Sinwar and is considered the central figure in the Strip, according to the report.

Sources indicated that no elections were held for the Gaza Bureau, but a “consultation” took place. In that process, Tawfiq Abu Naim was reportedly appointed as a bureau member.

Previously, Abu Naim commanded the terror organization’s policing mechanisms. Like Al-Amodi, he is a Shalit-deal release and among Sinwar’s associates.

At the top of the military wing still stands Izz al-Din al-Haddad. A former Fatah member, he is the only Hamas brigade commander not eliminated in the war.

According to foreign reports, Al-Haddad, as Gaza City brigade commander, was among the few who knew the date of the Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel. Like others, he was involved in planning and executing the massacre.

After Hamas military wing leaders Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and Mohammed Sinwar were killed, he was appointed head of the wing.

Intelligence head Mohammed Odeh has also survived. According to Arab reports, he was appointed commander of the northern Gaza brigade in place of Ahmed Ghandour, who was killed.

Mohanad Rajab was appointed Gaza City brigade commander. Besides him, three “veteran” battalion commanders survived the war: Imad Aslim and Haitham Hawajari from the Gaza brigade, and Hussein Fayyad from Beit Hanoun.

Alongside the surviving senior figures, Hamas still controls policing mechanisms. According to published data, the three policing mechanisms have at least 20,000 members.

However, most of Hamas’s rocket array has been destroyed, and most of the trained fighters have been killed.

Additionally, Israel estimates Hamas has been forced to appoint field commanders at lower levels due to the loss of dozens of battalion commanders and company commanders during the war.

The organization’s leadership abroad

Simultaneously, there is the Hamas political bureau abroad. Most of its members reside in Qatar and Turkey, with the rest in other countries such as Iran and Algeria. In total, this comprises several dozen senior and junior bureau members.

At the top of this bureau serves a five-member leadership council: Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal, Mohammed Darwish, Zaher Jabarin, and Nizar Awadallah.

Al-Hayya serves as Gaza regional head, and Jabarin serves as West Bank regional head. Mashaal is responsible for the diaspora abroad, and Darwish is responsible for the organization’s Shura Council. Awadallah also serves in the Gaza bureau.

Al-Hayya and Mashaal are now competing for the position of bureau head, which has been vacant since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh. As part of the election process, a deputy is also expected to be appointed following Saleh Arouri’s killing in 2024.

The latest senior Hamas terrorist eliminated by Israel is Mohammed al-Houli, who participated in the preparations for the Oct. 7 onslaught. Al-Houli joins a series of terrorists eliminated during the Gaza ceasefire against the backdrop of Hamas violations.

The most senior figure eliminated in the past three months was Raad Saad. The founder of Hamas’s Nukhba units and naval force, who served for decades as one of the military wing’s senior commanders, had climbed to the No. 2 position in the wing after two years of war.

Saad, who was killed on Dec. 13 while traveling in his vehicle with bodyguards, oversaw weapons production and was responsible for assembling explosive devices deployed against IDF forces.

In early December, East Rafah Battalion commander Abu Ahmed al-Bawab and his deputy Ismail Abu Labda were killed. Both had spent extended time in an underground tunnel after the ceasefire took effect in October.

On Nov. 22, Alaa al-Hadidi, a senior figure responsible for supply and equipment in the military wing’s production apparatus, was eliminated. Two days earlier, Abdullah Abu Shamala, who served as head of the Hamas naval apparatus, was killed.