CAIRO: Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group on Monday (Jul 20), in a move an analyst says could signal a tougher stance by the group towards disarmament calls.

Hayya replaces Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas fought a full-scale, two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Hayya, the group's exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, has become an increasingly central figure in the leadership of Hamas since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran in July 2024.

He is seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group's office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.

Hayya was among top Hamas officials targeted in 2025 in an Israeli attack in Doha, where he is based, Israeli officials told Reuters.

The militant group faces some of the toughest challenges since it was founded in 1987, battered by two years of war ignited by its Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel and facing international demands to disarm.

While fighting has abated in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still holds more than 60 per cent of the coastal enclave, attacks continue, and conditions for Gaza's 2 million people remain dire.

Israel says it targets Hamas and other Gaza militants who pose an imminent threat. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn't immediately comment on Hayya's selection.

On Monday, an Israeli strike killed at least two Palestinians driving in a vehicle in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medics said. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment.

The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,150 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza health officials. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.

SELECTION SEEN AS MESSAGE OF DEFIANCE

Since Sinwar was killed, Hamas has resorted to a five-member higher council that included Hayya and Meshaal, in addition to three other officials.

The election of a Hamas chief is a lengthy process that began in January and was interrupted by the wars in Iran and Lebanon and continuing Israeli military operation...