Khalil al-Hayya

Khalil Ismail Ibrahim al-Hayya, also known as Abu Osama, is the leader of the Hamas movement. He previously served as deputy head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as a representative of Gaza City in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and as head of the organization’s media office. He was born in the Gaza Strip in 1960. In the early 1980s, while studying at the Islamic University of Gaza, he was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and became involved in its activities. In 1983, he received a bachelor’s degree from the Islamic University of Gaza, where he also worked as a teacher. He served as deputy chairman of the university’s student council in 1986 and joined Hamas during the First Intifada. He rose through Hamas’s organizational ranks until he was elected as a member of the Hamas Political Bureau and, in the 2006 elections, as a Hamas representative in the Palestinian Legislative Council. During the election campaign, he headed the Hamas parliamentary faction and also led the movement’s media office. In 2021, he was appointed deputy to Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In October 2024, following the killing of Yahya Sinwar, he began serving as acting leader of Hamas. In July 2026, he was formally elected to the position. In 2025, he was the primary target of an Israeli Air Force strike in Qatar aimed at assassinating Hamas’s leadership, but he survived. He led the Hamas delegation during the negotiations and the signing of the agreement for the release of the living hostages from the Gaza Strip in exchange for an end to the war and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.