Hamas is in the final stages of choosing its next leader, it is believed, after a series of Israeli assassinations on its governing elite.
The Palestinian group, which once controlled all of Gaza, is expected to name an interim leader as it regroups from two years of fierce Israeli attack.
Two candidates are in the running in the final phase of an internal election, media outlets including AFP and BBC News reported.
They are Khaled Meshaal, who ran Hamas's political bureau from 1996 to 2017, and Khalil Al Hayya, who has led Hamas's negotiating team in recent talks in Egypt and Qatar.
Sources have previously told The National that the two men represent rival schools of thought about Hamas's future. Mr Al Hayya's faction intends to preserve it as a powerful armed force, while Mr Meshaal's wing believes it should evolve into a conventional political party.
Two Hamas leaders have been killed by Israel since the war broke out. The first, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024.
Mr Haniyeh was replaced by Yahya Sinwar, believed to be the strategist behind Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023. Only two months later, Mr Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces inside the Gaza Strip.
No clear leader has emerged since then. A six-man leadership group oversaw Hamas's operations in Doha, where senior members of the group survived another Israeli assassination attempt in September 2025.
Internal elections took place last month to fill gaps in the political bureau, sources told The National at the time. Secure telephone lines and face-to-face meetings were used to register votes.
As of Sunday “the movement has completed its internal elections … and has reached the final stage of selecting the head of the political bureau,” a senior Hamas official told AFP.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2006. Much of the territory remains occupied by Israeli troops even after a ceasefire took effect in October. A committee of Palestinian technocrats has been assigned to run Gaza's day-to-day affairs.
One Hamas official had said in early January that the names of the new leadership team would be withheld, for security reasons, until the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza. The US declared the start of phase two on January 14.
President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan says Hamas should have no role in governing postwar Gaza. An Israeli minister suggested last week that a military campaign would resume if Hamas fails to lay down its weapons within 60-day.
