Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
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Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)

Informed Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that until Sunday, no person had been chosen to head the movement’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

The sources confirmed that there are ongoing consultations in an attempt to implement the movement’s by-laws, amid a vacuum in many senior positions in the Shura Council and its executive body.

On Saturday, Hamas said in a statement that it had “begun a broad consultation process in its leadership and Shura institutions to choose a new head of the movement” following Haniyeh’s assassination, which was blamed on Israel.

Several potential candidates can be chosen to assume the position, including Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Yehya Al-Sanwar, Khalil Al-Hayya, and Zaher Jabareen.

Asharq Al-Awsat sources suggest that Meshaal is likely to be selected as head of the movement to replace Haniyeh until the end of the war, perhaps before holding early elections at the end of the current stage.

According to the sources, the presence of prominent leaders from within the movement abroad, specifically in Qatar, will help in overcoming the current crises and trying to expedite the steps to choose the prospective personality.

Meshaal is the former head of Hamas, and has lived in exile since 1967, moving between Jordan, Qatar, Syria, and other countries.

He was chosen as head of the movement’s political bureau after Israel assassinated the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and after him, his successor in the Palestinian territories, Abdulaziz Al-Rantisi.



3 Dead in Israeli Drone Strike in Lebanon’s Sidon

A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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3 Dead in Israeli Drone Strike in Lebanon’s Sidon

A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Three people were killed early Friday in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment in a multistory building in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon.

The state-run National News Agency said three people were killed in the attack. "A hostile drone raided a residential apartment... in Sidon, causing two successive explosions that led to a fire and extensive damage," reported NNA.

Emergency workers rushed to the scene where they recovered "the bodies of three martyrs," the agency said.

According to local media reports, the dead were a Hamas member and his two children.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military. It was the first time an airstrike had hit Lebanon’s third largest city since a tenuous ceasefire agreement brought an end to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.

Israel has continued to carry out regular airstrikes targeting what it has said are facilities and officials of Hezbollah and allied groups since the ceasefire.