Arab media reports that Khaled Mashal will serve as the acting head of the Hamas political bureau following the death of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Mashal previously held this position for many years.
Hamas is expected to hold snap elections to determine a new head of the Politburo.
Brief Information About Khaled Mashal
Khaled Mashal was born in 1956 in the village of Silwad, near Ramallah in the West Bank. In 1967, he and his family were deported to Jordan and later moved to Kuwait, where Mashal lived until 1990.
In Kuwait, Mashal graduated from high school and university, becoming a physics teacher. While at university, he led the student "Islamic Bloc" and in 1987 helped found the Palestinian Student Group, which later became Hamas, aiming to establish an "Islamic State of Palestine" across Israel.
In 1990, Mashal moved to Jordan, where he organized terrorist attacks against Israelis. In 1996, he was elected chairman of Hamas' political bureau.
In 1997, Israeli intelligence attempted to assassinate Mashal by poisoning him, but Jordanian intelligence detained the operatives, and Israel provided an antidote in exchange for the release of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin from prison.
In 1999, Jordan refused him asylum, and Mashal relocated to Damascus, Syria, where his headquarters were based until 2012. Amid the Syrian civil war, Mashal moved to Qatar.
Mashal is on the list of most-wanted terrorists by Israeli intelligence. Despite this, in December 2012, following Operation Pillar of Defense, Israeli authorities did not prevent him from visiting Gaza or attempt to kill him.
In May 2017, Ismail Haniyeh was elected as the new head of Hamas' political bureau, and Mashal formally left his position.
In April 2021, Mashal was elected head of Hamas in the Diaspora.
Since July 31, 2024, after Haniyeh's death in Tehran, Mashal has temporarily headed the Hamas political bureau.
