Hamas to vote on new leader as it recruits teens to restore its ranks

Security analyst warns that Hamas is using the Gaza ceasefire not only to rebuild its forces, but also to establish a new leadership hierarchy following assassinations of top terrorists.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror organization is using the shaky ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to rebuild its armed forces and to reconstitute its leadership class after suffering massive losses to Israel during two years of fighting, a national security analyst has warned.

According to Hamas officials cited by a report in the London-based, Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat, Hamas is planning to hold an internal vote in the first 10 days of January to determine the organization’s new leadership hierarchy.

The internal election will include a vote for a successor to Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of Hamas’ politburo from 2017 until his assassination in 2024, and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza commander who briefly replaced Haniyeh as head of the politburo until he was killed by IDF forces two months after taking office.

Following the elimination of the two senior Hamas leaders, the terror group was left with no clear chain of command, creating a vacuum at the highest levels of leadership.

Nor were Haniyeh and Sinwar the only politburo members eliminated by Israel.

Of the 18 members elected in the last vote, held in 2017, five have been killed.

Since October 2024, a group of five politburo members have served jointly as acting co-chairmen of the politburo, forming an inner circle without the committee, centered around Khaled Mashal and Khalil al-Hayya.

Mashal, who previously served as politburo chairman from 1996 to 2017, is widely perceived as more cautious and pragmatic than al-Hayya, who was elected in 2006 to represent Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

According to the Asharq Al-Awsat report, Mashal favors adhering to the ceasefire with Israel and replacing Hamas’ dependence on Iran by fostering ties with a wide range of Arab states.

Al-Hayya, on the other hand, reportedly has called for aggressive “armed confrontation” with Israel until the IDF withdraws from Gaza.

While multiple candidates are expected to run for politburo chairman, Mashal and al-Hayya are considered to be the most likely to win.

The vote will be conducted by the terror group’s Shura Council, a committee of Islamic clerics from Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and abroad.

Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher for the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, warned that Hamas is rapidly working to restore its control over the Gaza Strip, reconstituting not only its leadership but also its armed forces.

“Everything that is happening will continue happening as long as Hamas continues to effectively control the western part of the Gaza Strip,” Michael told Fox News. “Generally speaking, Hamas now has full freedom of movement.”

Michael downplayed the differences between Mashal and al-Hayya, calling both “problematic.”

“Each one, in his own way, is considered to be more militant and more radical in his Gazan orientation and his support for armed resistance.”

Hamas’ renewed freedom of movement in Gaza has enabled it to expand its recruiting efforts, bolstering its ranks with large numbers of Gazan teens.

“It has become very easy for Hamas to recruit teenagers now because they effectively control the western part of the Gaza Strip,” Michael said, calling Hamas the “most reliable employer in the Gaza Strip.”