On Monday, two sources within Hamas revealed that the group is moving toward forming a ruling committee based in Doha instead of naming a single successor to Yahya Sinwar, who was recently killed by Israel.

A knowledgeable source explained to AFP, “The Hamas leadership’s approach is not to appoint a successor to the late chief, the martyr Yahya Sinwar, until their next elections” planned for March, “if conditions permit.”

According to this source, a five-member committee, established in August after the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, will take charge of the organization’s leadership.

The committee, which was initially created to facilitate decision-making, had been helping with communication challenges while Sinwar was still in Gaza before his elimination.

Sinwar had served as Hamas’ Gaza leader since 2017 and later assumed leadership of the entire organization following the assassination of Haniyeh in July.

The same source shared that the committee includes representatives from both Palestinian Authority-administered territories and the diaspora. It is composed of Khalil al-Hayya representing Gaza, Zaher Jabarin for Judea and Samaria, and Khaled Mashaal representing Palestinian Arabs abroad.

Additionally, the committee features Mohammed Darwish, the head of Hamas’ Shura advisory council, and the political bureau’s secretary, whose identity remains undisclosed for security reasons.

As of now, all members of this ruling committee are stationed in Qatar.

A second source confirmed that Hamas had debated internally whether to appoint a new political chief without disclosing their identity publicly. However, the leadership ultimately decided to govern collectively through the established committee.

{Matzav.com Israel}