Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, was targeted by Israel in Qatar on Tuesday. Over the past year, he has become one of the most important figures in the group’s leadership following the deaths of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli officials told Reuters the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders, including Hayya, who is Hamas’s exiled Gaza chief and chief negotiator. According to two Hamas sources, the group’s ceasefire delegation in Doha survived the attack.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas said five of its members were killed along with a Qatari officer, but none of its senior leadership or negotiation team was eliminated.
Who is Khalil Al Hayya?
Hayya has been central to ceasefire talks since the war began two years ago. After Haniyeh was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024, Hayya became the most influential figure abroad. He is one of five members of Hamas’s leadership council, which has led the group since Sinwar was killed in Gaza last October.
Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, Hayya has been part of Hamas since its founding in 1987. In the early 1980s, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood with Haniyeh and Sinwar. He was detained several times by Israel before eventually leaving Gaza and settling in Qatar to handle the group’s ties with Arab and Islamic states.
Hayya also accompanied Haniyeh on the Tehran visit in July 2024, during which Haniyeh was assassinated.
Hayya has paid a heavy personal price in the conflict. An Israeli strike in 2007 hit his family home in Gaza City, killing several relatives. In the 2014 war, another strike killed his eldest son, Osama, along with Osama’s wife and three of their children.
He is regarded as a close ally of Iran, which has been a key source of arms and financing for Hamas. Over the years, he has played a major role in negotiating truces with Israel, including the deal that ended the 2014 conflict and current efforts to end the Gaza war.
Other Figures Targeted
Reports suggest that Zaher Jabarin was also targeted in Israel’s strike. Jabarin is Hamas’s chief financial administrator, head of its financial bureau, and leader of its operations in the occupied West Bank. He is also part of the five-member leadership council.
In 1993, Israel sentenced Jabarin to life imprisonment. He spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange. Since then, he has risen quickly within Hamas, overseeing its investment and funding networks.
The people killed during Israel’s attack in Qatar were:
- Jihad Labad, director of Al-Hayya’s office
- Humam al-Hayya, Al-Hayya’s son
- Abdullah Abdul Wahid, bodyguard
- Moamen Hassouna, bodyguard
- Ahmed al-Mamluk, bodyguard
Qatar also reported the death of Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya).
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