New political chief of Hamas elected

Baku. 6 May. REPORT.AZ/ Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was elected chief of the group's political bureau, a Hamas source said Saturday.

Report informs citing the Israeli media, Haniyeh was selected in polls that were held Saturday in both the Gaza Strip and Doha simultaneously via video conference.

He will replace Khaled Meshaal, who has been Hamas political chief since 1996 and according to the rules of the organization he cannot be nominated for one more term.

During the elections, the Gaza Strip and Doha, the capital of Qatar, where Mashal lives, connected the "teleconference".

Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1963 in the camp of Shati, in the Gaza Strip. In 1987 he graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza in Arabic literature.

Haniye held the post of the head of the government of Gaza from 2006 to 2016.