By Nidal al-Mughrabi
July 20 (Reuters) – Khalil Al-Hayya, a high-ranking Hamas official with significant ties to Iran, has been named the overall leader of the Palestinian militant group. Al-Hayya previously survived an Israeli raid in Qatar last September and has since risen to this prominent position.
Based in Doha alongside other senior officials, Al-Hayya has endured significant personal loss during the ongoing Gaza conflict, including the death of a son and two sons in previous military engagements.
His influence within the organization has grown steadily following the elimination of other key leaders in Israeli strikes, most notably Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Iran and Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Hayya has been a central figure in the complex ceasefire negotiations that have unfolded since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Those attacks triggered a massive Israeli military campaign that has caused widespread destruction across the Gaza enclave.
He participated in indirect negotiations that eventually led to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, which temporarily halted major combat operations in Gaza, though Israel continues to target Hamas and other militant groups it identifies as immediate threats.
An earlier ceasefire proposal had been a primary topic of discussion for the 64-year-old and his colleagues when they were targeted in an Israeli attack on Doha on September 9, which resulted in six fatalities but did not claim any top Hamas leadership.
Following the death of Haniyeh in Iran in July 2024, Al-Hayya has emerged as the group’s most influential representative abroad. He is a member of a five-person leadership council in Qatar that has directed Hamas since the death of Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 2023 offensive, last year.
A veteran member of the Islamist group originally from the Gaza Strip, Al-Hayya is recognized for his strong connections with Iran, a critical provider of arms and funding for Hamas. He has played a pivotal role in attempting to broker various truces with Israel, including efforts to end the 2014 conflict and current attempts to secure a lasting end to the war in Gaza.
Al-Hayya’s involvement with Hamas dates back to its inception in 1987. Hamas sources indicate he joined the movement alongside Haniyeh and Sinwar in the early 1980s, following his membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sunni Islamist movement from which Hamas originated.
During his time in Gaza, he was detained by Israeli authorities on several occasions.
In 2007, an Israeli airstrike hit his family residence in Gaza City’s Shejaia district, killing several relatives. In 2008, his son Hamza was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
During the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas, the home of Al-Hayya’s eldest son, Osama, was bombed, resulting in the deaths of Osama, his wife, and three children.
TIES WITH IRAN, TALKS WITH SYRIA
Having moved away from Gaza several years ago, Al-Hayya has served as Hamas’s primary liaison to the Arab and Islamic worlds from his base in Qatar. He accompanied Haniyeh to Tehran in July during the visit during which Haniyeh was assassinated.
Al-Hayya has previously stated that the October 7 attacks were intended as a limited operation to capture soldiers for prisoner exchanges.
“But the Zionist army unit completely collapsed,” he remarked in comments released by the Hamas-linked Palestinian Information Center, referring to the Israeli military.
He has asserted that the attack succeeded in re-centering the Palestinian cause within the international political discourse.
According to Israeli figures, the Hamas-led attacks resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 251 abductions. Since the onset of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Gaza health ministry reports that more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed.
In addition to leading diplomatic delegations in ceasefire negotiations, Al-Hayya has managed various high-level political responsibilities for the group.
In 2022, he led a Hamas delegation to Damascus to repair relations with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This move aimed to mend a rift caused a decade prior when the movement supported the Sunni uprising against the Alawite-sect member.
The previous breakdown in relations had strained regional alliances facilitated by Iran to counter Israel and the United States.