Palestinian group Hamas is expected to elect a new leader this month, two sources in the group told Reuters, filling the role left vacant since Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in 2024, despite concerns that a successor could suffer the same fate.
Khalil Al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal are seen as frontrunners for the helm at a vital moment for the group, battered by two years of war and facing demands to disarm.
Both men reside in Qatar and sit on a five-man council that has run Hamas since Israel killed Sinwar. His predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was also assassinated by Israel while on a visit to Iran in 2024.
The election process has already begun, the sources said. The leader is chosen in a secret ballot by Hamas' Shura Council, a 50-member body that includes Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and exile.
A Hamas spokesperson declined to comment.
The sources said a deputy leader will also be elected to replace Saleh Al-Arouri, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in 2024.
Sources close to Hamas said it was determined to conclude the vote, though some preferred an extension of collective leadership.
Hamas watchers regard Meshaal as part of a pragmatic wing with good ties to Sunni Muslim countries, and Hayya, the group's lead negotiator, as part of a camp that deepened its relations with Iran.
Hamas faces some of the toughest challenges since it was founded in 1987. Israel still holds almost half the coastal enclave, with daily attacks despite the 10 October ceasefire being in effect, and conditions for Gaza's 2 million people remain dire.
US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan for Gaza demands Hamas disarm and foresees the enclave being run by a technocratic Palestinian administration overseen by an international body called the Board of Peace.
Hamas has so far refused to disarm, saying the question of armed resistance is a matter for wider debate among Palestinian factions and that it would be ready to surrender its weapons to a future Palestinian state, an outcome Israel has ruled out.
The group has also repeatedly pointed out that Israel still has a strong presence in the enclave despite the truce, and carries out killings and demolitions on an almost daily basis.
The election of the new leader comes despite Israel targeting members of the group, even on foreign soil.
In September, Israel targeted a building hosting Hamas leaders, including Hayya, while they were there for ceasefire negotiations and discussing how to advance them. The attack killed five Hamas members and a Qatari officer, prompting widespread condemnation from across the world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later expressed regret to the emir of Qatar - a US ally - in a three-way call with Trump and affirmed Israel would not conduct such an attack again in the future, the White House said at the time.
Meanwhile, Meshaal previously led Hamas for almost two decades. Israeli agents tried to assassinate him in Jordan in 1997 by injecting him with poison.
His relations with Iran were strained in 2012 when he distanced Hamas from Tehran's Syrian ally, the now-ousted President Bashar al-Assad, early in the Arab Spring uprisings.
Hamas was founded as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and is the main rival to the Palestinians' Fatah national movement, led by 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, however, Israel has objected to this.
Analyst Reham Owda said there were limited differences between Hayya and Meshaal over the conflict with Israel, but believed Meshaal had better chances as he could "market (Hamas) internationally and help rebuild its capabilities".