1. Khalil al-Hayya is a Palestinian politician who served as the deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August to October 2024, succeeding deceased Saleh al-Arouri.
14 Facts About Khalil al-Hayya
1. 2.
Khalil al-Hayya is serving as one of the acting quinquevirate leadership of Hamas, alongside Khaled Mashal, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, and an unnamed Hamas official, after Yahya Sinwar was killed by the IDF in October 2024.
3.
Khalil al-Hayya was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council since January 2006 as a representative of Gaza City.
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Khalil al-Hayya joined Hamas after finished his bachelor's degree during the First Intifada.
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Khalil al-Hayya worked part time as a teacher at that time.
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Khalil al-Hayya declared that Hamas would not accept a referendum or new elections, asserting their parliamentary mandate following their electoral victory.
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In October 2022, Khalil al-Hayya announced that he and representatives from other Palestinian factions held a "historic" meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, marking the first such meeting in a decade.
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Khalil al-Hayya expressed regret for any "mistaken action" taken against Syria in the past and emphasized the importance of the meeting in relaunching joint Palestinian-Syrian efforts.
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Secret meeting minutes reviewed by The New York Times revealed that in July 2023, Khalil al-Hayya discussed plans of the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel with senior Iranian commander Mohammed Said Izadi of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was based in Lebanon and helped oversee Tehran's relations with Palestinian armed groups.
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The minutes indicated that Khalil al-Hayya informed Izadi that Hamas required assistance in targeting sensitive sites during the initial phase of the attack.
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Khalil al-Hayya has advocated for maintaining strong relations with Iran.
12.
In 2011, Khalil al-Hayya called on the United Nations to recognize Palestine within its pre-1948 borders.
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Khalil al-Hayya clarified that the proposed Palestinian state would require "the return of Palestinian refugees" to present-day Israel.
14.
Seven or eight of Khalil al-Hayya's relatives, including two of his brothers, were killed by Israeli strikes on his home in 2007, in a failed assassination attempt on him.