Jerusalem: There have been speculations after Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar was eliminated by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), about who will lead the terrorist organisation after Sinwar. According to latest reports, Hamas will not be getting a new Chief for the next five months. Know who will lead Hamas, who will be next Hamas Chief and when will Hamas get new Chief…
Who Will Be Next Hamas Chief?
While initially, after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, several names of Hamas leaders were being discussed as his potential successor, latest reports suggest that the terrorist organisation will not get a new Chief for the next several months.
AFP quoted a source as saying, “The Hamas leadership’s approach is not to appoint a successor to the late chief, the martyr Yahya Sinwar.”
According to the report, a five-member committee, which was elected in August after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, will be jointly leading Hamas as the war between Israel and Palestine rages on. This committee ‘will take over the leadership of the group’.
The committee reportedly includes Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin and Khaled Meshaal representing Gaza, West Bank and Palestinians abroad respectively. Mohammed Darwish the Hamas’ Shura Advisory Council Head and Political Bureau Secretary is also part of the committee.
All members of this committee are based in Qatar and this committee has been asked to ‘govern the movement during the war and exceptional circumstances, as well as its future plans’. The committee also has the power to ‘make strategic decisions’.
When Will Hamas Get New Chief?
According to the AFP report, the same source has said that while for now a five-member committee will lead Hamas, the terrorist organisation will get its next Chief not before the next elections that may be held in March, 2025 ‘if conditions permits’.
What’s Next for Hamas?
The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces in Gaza has left the Palestinian militant group considering new leadership for the second time in less than three months. Will Hamas now turn away from its hard-line wing or will it double down, and what will it mean for the group’s future and for the revival of cease-fire and hostage exchange negotiations between Hamas and Israel? Sinwar replaced Hamas’ previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, after Haniyeh was killed in July in a blast in Iran that was widely blamed on Israel.
As an architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, Sinwar was a defiant choice at a time when some expected the militant group to take a more conciliatory approach and seek to end the conflict. Sinwar’s killing appeared to be a chance front-line encounter with Israeli troops on Wednesday.
How Will Yahya Sinwar’s Killing Impact Israel-Hamas War?
Sinwar’s death has little immediate impact on Hamas. Killing Sinwar marked a major symbolic victory for Israel in its yearlong war against Hamas in Gaza. But it has also allowed Hamas to claim him as a hero who was killed in the battlefield, not hiding in a tunnel.
While the group is on the defensive and has been largely forced underground in Gaza, it continues to fight Israeli forces in the enclave and to exert political influence. Bassem Naim, a Qatar-based member of the group’s political bureau, said in a statement that Israel had killed other Hamas leaders, including its founding leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who were killed by airstrikes in 2004. “Hamas each time became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations,” he said.
The impact of Sinwar’s death on military operations in Gaza remains to be seen. But Sadeq Abu Amer, head of the Turkey-based think tank Palestinian Dialogue Group, said that “there will be no significant impact on the political structure of Hamas.” When Sinwar was appointed, “the situation was basically arranged so that Hamas could manage its political affairs and manage the organization independently of Sinwar” because of the difficulties of communication between Sinwar and Hamas’ political leaders outside of Gaza, he said.
Most matters were managed by “collective leadership” between the head of the group’s Shura Council and officials in charge of the West Bank, Gaza and regions abroad, he said. The notable exception: Sinwar controlled all matters related to Israeli hostages in Gaza.
(Inputs from AP)
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