Ismail Haniyeh re-elected as Hamas leader even though he’s not in Gaza

GAZA – Ismail Haniyeh has been re -elected as leader Hamas , fax Palestine ruling in the Gaza Strip. He returned to lead the faction even though he was not in Gaza.

Haniyeh, some call him Haniya, has been the leader of Hamas since 2017. He controls the group’s political activities in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and a diaspora that comes mostly from outside Gaza.

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He divides his time between Turkey and Qatar for the past two years. He has not said whether he will return to the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh directed Hamas in its 11-day conflict with Israel last May in which more than 250 people were killed in Gaza and 13 people were killed in Israel. An Egyptian-mediated ceasefire has ended the conflict.

“Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as head of the movement’s political office [Hamas] for the second time, “a Palestinian official told the news agency Reuters on Sunday.

He was re-elected in internal elections by members of Hamas. He won unopposed. His term of office will last for the next four years.

Aged 58, Haniyeh was the right-hand man of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza, before the wheelchair-bound leader was assassinated in 2004 in an Israeli air strike.

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