First, it was Ismail Haniyeh and then, Yahya Sinwar… Israel has eliminated a number of top leaders of the Palestinian Hamas Movement since October 7, 2023. Hence, the outfit is facing a leadership crisis. Despite the setback, Hamas has decided to continue the war against the Zionist Regime! Hence, there is no immediate possibility of putting an end to the bloodbath.

Reports suggest that Hamas has prepared a new succession plan to overcome the current leadership crisis. Several names have emerged as the next head of the Palestinian Movement. The list includes hard-line leader Mahmoud al-Zahar and Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar. Hamas was believed to be looking to replace Yahya Sinwar with a political leader who could lead the outfit from outside Gaza as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have already occupied most of the Gaza Strip. It seems that Hamas has painfully realised that it is quite difficult for a person to run the group from Gaza.

Meanwhile, a source close to the Palestinian Movement has revealed that the top Hamas leadership no longer wants to appoint a person as the successor of Yahya Sinwar. Hamas is considering appointing a Doha-based Governing Committee to take over this responsibility, instead! However, the responsibility of Hamas shall remain with that committee for a certain period of time! According to a senior Hamas leader who wished to remain anonymous, they are not in favour of appointing a successor of Yahya Sinwar until the next internal election which would get held in March 2025, if conditions permit!

Another source has claimed that Hamas formed a five-member committee in Doha in August 2024 after the assassination of former Chief Haniyeh in Tehran. The committee was tasked with making decisions in case of any difficulties in communicating with Sinwar in Gaza. This committee has already taken the charge of Hamas. The source has also said that the five-member committee consists of representatives from the two Palestinian territories and communities. Khalil al-Hayya as the representative of Gaza, Zaher Jabarin as the representative of the West Bank and Khaled Mashal on behalf of Palestinians abroad have found their places in this committee. The two other members of the committee are Mahmoud Darwish, the head of Hamas’ Shura Advisory Council, and a secretary of the Political Wing of the outfit. It may be noted that Hamas has never identified the secretary for security reasons.

All the members of the committee are currently based in Qatar as they are tasked with “governing the movement during the war and exceptional circumstances, as well as its future plans”. The committee is also authorised to “make strategic decisions”. Another source close to Hamas has claimed that although the top leadership of the group discussed a proposal to appoint a political chief without announcing his name, the leaders decided to run the outfit through the committee.

Since the assassination of Sinwar on October 16, 2024 in Rafah, the Palestinian Movement has been discussing its new strategy to counter the Zionist Regime. The top Hamas leadership believes that the Doha-based five-member committee would successfully lead the outfit during this period of war and instability.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das