Key takeaways from Khalil al-Hayya’s first speech as Hamas leader
The newly appointed leader says Hamas would work to help the people of Gaza and achieve a united Palestinian state. Khalil al-Hayya, the new leader
The newly appointed leader says Hamas would work to help the people of Gaza and achieve a united Palestinian state. Khalil al-Hayya, the new leader of Hamas, has issued a televised address to the “steadfast and patient Palestinian people”, pledging to rebuild Gaza and alleviate the suffering of its people, free political prisoners held in Israel, and unite Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem in a single “free and proud Palestine”. Speaking at a lectern in a suit jacket and open-necked shirt, with the flags of Palestine and Hamas behind him, al-Hayya said in his speech broadcast on Wednesday by Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV that the group would resist attempts to force Palestinians out of Gaza, and thanked the countries trying to end Israel’s genocidal war. Al-Hayya was selected by the General Shura Council on Monday as the new head of the Hamas political bureau, coming ahead of former political chief Khaled Meshaal in a run-off vote. He replaced the previous leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli army in Gaza in 2024. Between Sinwar’s killing and the appointment of al-Hayya, Hamas was led by a five-man ruling council, of which al-Hayya was a member. In his televised address, he called for an immediate and complete cessation of Israeli aggression in Gaza, and set out the priorities of Hamas. Here are the key takeaways from his address He reaffirmed the goal of a united Palestinian state Al-Hayya said the primary goal of Hamas was achieving a Palestinian state encompassing Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with its capital in East Jerusalem.
This has been the group’s official objective since a revised policy document published in 2017. “Our first and foremost commitment is to continue on the same path, carrying the banner high and fluttering, until it flies over Al-Aqsa Mosque and the lands of a free and proud Palestine, for which the free and sincere among all the forces and factions of our people and its righteous sons have struggled and fought,” al-Hayya said. He addressed Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank in his speech. “Greetings to our people in occupied Jerusalem, the compass and the heart of our struggle, and to its Al-Aqsa Mosque, its minarets, and its churches,” he said. “And greetings to the steadfast West Bank … This West Bank, which the enemy seeks to seize and Judaise, is a responsibility and a trust placed upon our shoulders as long as we live.” He promised that Gaza would be rebuilt Al-Hayya expressed “heartfelt greetings and unwavering loyalty to our patient and steadfast people in Gaza, the land of pride”. He said the Palestinians in Gaza would never be driven out, and promised that Hamas would work to alleviate the suffering of the inhabitants of the territory, and eventually rebuild it. “People of Gaza, my family and my people, among whom I have spent my life, we know you, and you know us. We understand how much you have suffered and continue to suffer, and the wounds inflicted on you,” al-Hayya said. “You live in tents and makeshift shelters, with the earth as your bed and the sky as your blanket.
The BriefWire