Ismail Haniyeh has been elected to a second term as head of Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, according to two Palestinian officials.

"Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as the head of the movement's political office for a second time," one official told Reuters. His term will last four years.

Haniyeh, the group's leader since 2017, has controlled its political activities throughout several armed confrontations with Israel - including an 11-day Israeli aggression in May that left over 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel dead.

READ MORE:Israel continues air assault on besieged Gaza

He was the right-hand man to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza, before the wheelchair-bound cleric was assassinated in 2004.

Haniyeh, 58, led Hamas' entry into politics in 2006, when they were surprise victors in Palestinian parliamentary elections, defeating a divided Fatah party led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

READ MORE: Palestinians call for change of government at Abbas critic's funeral

Haniyeh became prime minister shortly after the January 2006 victory, but Hamas - which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, Israel and the European Union - was shunned by the international community.

Following a brief civil war, Hamas seized Gaza from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in 2007. Israel has led a blockade of Gaza since then, citing threats from Hamas. 

READ MORE:Hamas accuses Israel of using Gaza exports to blackmail enclave

READ MORE:Has the Gaza crisis strengthened the Hamas-Hezbollah relationship?