Haniyeh re-elected as chief of Hamas

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

Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh talks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon, June 28, 2021.
Reuters

Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh talks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon, June 28, 2021.

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

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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.

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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. 

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

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