Hamas completes Gaza voting for general political bureau head, winner to be announced
Hamas branches in the West Bank and abroad are expected to complete their voting process and announce the winner next week, Qatari media outlet Al-Alraby said.
Hamas in Gaza has completed an internal voting process to select a new head of the terrorist organization’s general political office, but the winner has not yet been announced, according to a report by Qatari media outlet Al-Alraby.
Hamas branches in the West Bank and abroad are expected to complete their voting process soon and announce the winner next week, Al-Alraby said.
The competition pits two candidates against each other. Khalil al-Hayya, the current interim head of Hamas’ political office in Gaza, who has close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is running against Khaled Mashaal, a senior Hamas official with closer ties to Turkey and other Arab countries.
Hamas’ electoral process was blocked twice: once in January and once in February, due to internal conflicts and the precarious security situation, before being rescheduled for the end of April.
The position of head of Hamas’ general political bureau has been vacant since former leader and mastermind of the October 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar, was killed in October 2024.
Hamas terrorists gather during a public event in Khan Younis, Gaza, February 1, 2025. (credit: MOIZ SALHI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The election will be limited to the selection of a new head of the general political office, relegating the current board of directors to a simple advisory body.
According to another article in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsattwo Hamas sources confirmed Wednesday that the terrorist group had resumed the selection process.
A source in the Gaza Strip said Asharq Al-Awsat that “the conditions that delayed the elections have been resolved.”
According to the report, Hamas is facing its deepest organizational and financial crisis since its creation in 1987, after receiving a severe blow from Israel following the outbreak of the October 7 massacre.
Support for Hamas in Gaza declines
A new survey conducted by Khalil Shekaki’s Palestinian polling station in April provides insight into the state of mind on the Palestinian side, both in the West Bank and Gaza.
Although the results may be potentially biased, they reveal a fundamental gap between sentiments in the West Bank and Gaza, and a gap in public opinion between those who want to continue fighting Israel and those who simply want to continue their normal daily lives.
At the height of the war between Israel and Hamas in December 2023, around 70% of Gazans wanted to see Hamas remain in power. More recent data paints a different picture.
According to the survey, the most popular leadership option among Gazans is establishing a government made up of experts and technocrats, with 42% of respondents supporting it. Hamas comes in second with 31% support, a significant drop from the height of the war.
The Palestinian Authority, in its current form, was less popular, with only 18% of the vote.
In the West Bank, however, support for Hamas is much higher, at 54 percent. This gap may indicate a difference between those who experienced the results of the war in Gaza up close and those who observed it from afar.
