Israel eliminated Hamas’ latest leader in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, on May 26, just two weeks after the IDF had also killed his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad. As such, Hamas appears leaderless in Gaza.
However, Israel has not sought to take advantage of this power vacuum strategically and try to remove Hamas from Gaza and free the 2 million civilians there still trapped under their rule. Instead, it left the terror group in control of around forty percent of Gaza to rebuild itself and choose new leadership.
Regional media is interested in who might come next. It’s worth recalling that Hamas leadership has been divided between Gaza and those leaders living abroad for decades. For instance, when October 7 began, many key Hamas figures were living in Qatar, including Ismail Haniyeh, Ghazi Hamid, and Khaled Meshaal, while Saleh al-Arouri lived in Lebanon. Haniyeh and Arouri were killed over the last two years, but some key Hamas figures still remain abroad.
Meanwhile, the entire Hamas leadership in Gaza has been eliminated, according to IDF statements over the last 967 days of war. This includes almost every Hamas company, battalion, and brigade commander, as well as leaders such as Yahya Sinwar, Marwan Issa, and Mohammed Dief. Hamas has replaced a number of its brigade and battalion commanders, with some of them also being killed in some cases.
Who will lead Hamas in Gaza next?
Walla reported this week that Hamas has several key figures in Gaza who might be candidates to head the group, mainly coming from the “military” wing of the terror organization.
While Hamas is a single organization, it has often presented itself as separate parts, with a “political” side that can travel around the region and negotiate with other actors while its "military" wing stays where the fighting is happening.
This way of operating goes back to the era when terrorist groups were more popular around the world, and groups like the IRA in Northern Ireland would pretend that their “political” side had no role in their “military” activity. The reality is that Hamas, like other groups, has a single leadership, and its leadership is intertwined.
In Gaza, the candidates for leadership, Walla says, include “survivors of assassination attempts, brigade commanders - and a mysterious figure.” The report is actually based on a separate report that “states that the three commanders of the Northern Brigade, the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, and the commander of the Gaza Brigade are candidates - along with another person described as ‘significant and experienced.’”
Asharq al-Awsat named several possible candidates, noting that Imad Aslim, deputy commander of the Gaza Brigade, was killed. “A fourth figure, the new commander of the Northern Brigade, survived and is believed to have been wounded.”
The Arabic-speaking outlet also reported that, according to Hamas sources, there are “several options under discussion within the movement, including a ‘collective leadership’ for Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, which are the terror group's military side.
The report refers to Qassam commander Imad Aqel, claiming that he “did not take part in planning or supervising the [October 7] attack, but is believed to have known about it because he was then responsible for the Home Front Directorate, a post he held until Odeh was killed.”
The report goes on to say that “three Hamas sources in Gaza, speaking separately to Asharq Al-Awsat, agreed that choosing or announcing a new chief of staff could take longer this time than the swift handover from Haddad to Odeh.”
Clearly, Hamas is now realizing that whoever they choose will be targeted by Israel, with the Asharq Al-Awsat sources noting that “a third source said a new commander was likely to be chosen soon, but under tighter secrecy to prevent his identity from being leaked, especially if the choice is a figure not widely seen as a contender.” It’s possible the group will create a “council of five” to run itself in Gaza.
The contenders to run Hamas include senior Qassam Brigades figures such as Muhand Rajab, commander of the Gaza Brigade, Izz ad-Din al-Bik, commander of the Northern Brigade, and Muhammad al-Barim, commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade.
It’s worth noting that the Khan Yunis Brigade was a key unit of the group before October 7, and that Sinwar is from this city. It spearheaded attacks towards Nirim, Nir Oz, and Magen during the October 7 massacre, and was largely destroyed by the IDF’s 98th Division in late 2023 and early 2024. Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, the head of the 98th, described the complex battle in Khan Yunis in early 2024.
The Northern Brigade of Hamas was also largely destroyed several times, first in the fighting in November 2023 and then again in operations in late 2024, while the entire north of Gaza was razed over time. The brigade has ostensibly ceased to operate, likely now existing only on paper within the area Hamas controls. The Gaza City brigade was also badly damaged in November and December 2023, before being attacked again in September 2025.
The Asharq al-Awsat report says that Hamas may appoint "a mysterious figure with a historical status in the organization.”
Imad Aqel is also a candidate and, according to the report, "originally lived in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. At the start of the second intifada in late September 2000, he was forced to leave the camp and move to the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City.”
Nuseirat, a key Hamas stronghold in central Gaza, was never taken by the IDF, remaining in Hamas's hands along with the other Central Camps, such as Deir al-Balah and Maghazi. The only exception was the June 2024 raid by the IDF into Nuseirat to free four hostages: Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov.
By contrast, Zeitoun was taken by the IDF at least seven times in the war. Aqel was also a commander of the Central Brigade and then the Gaza Brigade.
The report also names Muhannad Rajab as a candidate. He became the Gaza Brigade commander, also commanded the Sabra and Tel al-Islam battalions, and was close to Haddad, the report says.
“Other Qassam commanders are also being mentioned, including Gaza Brigade commander Muhannad Rajab, Northern Brigade commander Izz el-Deen al-Beik, whom Israel tried to assassinate days ago, and Khan Yunis Brigade commander Mohammed al-Bureim. Other former members of the brigades’ military council are also being pushed by some to return to the general staff. The name of Northern Brigade commander Izz el-Deen al-Beik also appears as another option, if his health allows, after conflicting reports about his injury in an Israeli strike days ago,” the report adds.
Many of these brigade commanders have replaced previous commanders who were killed, with the Northern Brigade, as noted above, supposedly destroyed by the IDF several times. This raises questions about who is in the brigade today: are they people displaced from areas such as Beit Lahiya, which was razed, or is it a brigade only on paper? Or was the IDF mistaken in previous assessments about the damage to some of these brigades? Did the brigades simply retreat to central Gaza? There are more questions than answers.
The last possibility for leadership in Gaza is an unnamed “mysterious” figure, who has a “historical” pedigree, and the IDF has tried to kill him, the report says. “The source, who declined to name the candidate to lead Qassam, said they ‘are not wounded, have considerable security and military experience, and are one of the brigade’s veteran military and security figures.’”