Hamas will keep the identity of its new leader secret to avoid another assassination following the death of October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar.
An official from the terrorist group told the BBC that the movement intends to elect its new leader in March 2025, but until then it will be led by a five-member committee.
The committee, which will dictate instead of a single leader, will be composed of Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Meshaal, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Darwish, head of the Shura Council, and a fifth person whose identity remains undisclosed.
The unnamed official told the broadcaster that Hamas had been alarmed by the way Sinwar, 61, was killed last week, as they had assumed he was in a safer location at the time of his murder.
He also defiantly added that the movement has the capacity and personnel to ensure their safety, but refrained from giving further specific details.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was assassinated last week (pictured in 2022)
Sinwar can be seen looking directly at the drone, peeking only through the small gap in the wrap covering his face, with his right hand wounded by bullets.
The committee, which will dictate instead of a single leader, will be composed of Khalil al-Hayya (pictured), Khaled Meshaal, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Darwish, head of the Shura Council, and a fifth person whose identity remains undisclosed.
The official revealed that the Iranian foreign minister met Khalil al-Hayya on Friday in Ankara and offered his condolences over Sinwar’s martyrdom.
Sinwar was eliminated on Wednesday after being hunted by intelligence services and the Israel Defense Forces for more than a year.
Israeli officials have said the Hamas leader, long nicknamed the Butcher of Khan Younis, was killed after emerging from the network of underground tunnels where he had been hiding.
A unit of the IDF’s 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah, on Wednesday morning when it encountered a group of three Hamas fighters on the street and confronted them in a shooting.
The terrorists were “on the run” moving from house to house, the IDF said, and they split up.
One of them, since identified as Sinwar, “ran alone toward one of the buildings.” He went up to the second floor and the troops responded by firing a tank shell in his direction.
The unit, made up of infantry commanders in training and reservists, then began sweeping the area, according to Israeli media.
Two grenades were thrown at them, one of which exploded while the other did not explode, Ynet reported.
The troops decided it was too dangerous to continue and withdrew, instead sending a mini drone to track the fleeing fighter.
Dramatic footage released by the IDF shows the bloodied Sinwar, his face hidden by a scarf, throwing a stick in a last-ditch attempt to fend off the drone just seconds before he was killed.
Two 120mm tank shells hit the building, as did a Matador surface-to-surface missile, according to Israeli reports, with shrapnel cutting through the upper floors and killing Sinwar.
IDF soldiers carry Sinwar’s body out of the destroyed building on a stretcher
Israel accuses Sinwar (pictured) of masterminding the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
Unaware that they had eliminated Israel’s main target, the soldiers did not return to the site until Thursday morning, when soldiers from the 450th Infantry Battalion were sent to take a closer look.
As they inspected the dead, they noticed that one bore a striking resemblance to the Hamas leader.
Graphic images emerged of his corpse lying on rubble surrounded by Israeli soldiers, while close-ups showed a catastrophic head wound and multiple wounds.
Confirmation of his death took several hours, multiple tests were performed, and his identity was finally confirmed with dental records and fingerprints.
Four hours after confirming that they were investigating whether the Hamas leader had been killed, the military issued a simple message on social media: “Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.”
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed the Hamas leader’s death in a televised statement Thursday night.
He said: ‘Sinwar was responsible for the most brutal attack on Israel in our history when terrorists from Gaza invaded Israel, massacred Israelis in their homes, raped our women, burned entire families alive and took away more than 250 men, women and children, babies. Gaza hostage.
Sinwar became the new leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian group following the assassination of his former political chief Ismail Haniyeh (left) in July.
‘Over the past year, Sinwar attempted to escape justice. Failure. We said we would find him and bring him to justice, and we did.
“It was Yahya Sinwar who decided to wage war on Israel while hiding behind civilians in Gaza.”
He added that 101 hostages still remain in captivity in “brutal conditions.”
Following the sudden killing, Hamas said Friday it will not release the hostages until Israel ends its war in Gaza, withdraws from the territory and releases imprisoned Palestinians, dashing hopes that Sinwar’s death would lead to a deal. .
The hostages “will not return… unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal and our heroic prisoners are released from the prisons of the occupation,” Qatar-based Khalil al-Haya said in a video . statement.
Sinwar’s assassination came after the death of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in July.