Israel failed to kill him in Doha strike, this Hamas leader now key in peace talks: Why Khalil Al-Hayya matters

Hayya is a senior Hamas official who lost his son in the current Gaza war and two sons in previous conflicts.

Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, survived the Israeli strikes on Qatar last month and was seen heading back to indirect talks with Israeli counterparts on Monday, amid US President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the Gaza War.

On Monday, Khalil Al-Hayya was seen in Sharm el-Sheikh for indirect talks with Israel on Trump's 20-point plan. (AP)

Hayya, who has been at the heart ceasefire talks, is seen as an influential figure among Hamas members.

As the key actors of the Israel-Hamas war are set to meet for talks in Egypt, with Khalil Al-Hayya leading the Hamas negotiators, here’s all you need to know about him, and a turnaround in fate:

• Hayya is a senior Hamas official who lost his son in the current Gaza war and two sons in previous conflicts.
• In September, Israel launched a missile strike on Doha, Qatar, targeting senior Hamas officials, including Khalil al-Hayya. While al-Hayya survived, the attack killed his son, his chief of staff, Qatari security officers, and others.
• On Monday, Hayya was seen in Sharm el-Sheikh for indirect talks with Israel on Trump's 20-point plan. This plan will include exchanging Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Seen as most influential in Hamas

Hayya is seen as Hamas’s most influential figure abroad since Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024.

He is also part of a five-man leadership council based in Qatar that has led Hamas since Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 2023 attacks, was killed last year

Hayya has been a veteran member of Hamas since it was set up in 1987 and is seen as having good ties with Iran, a vital source of arms and finance for Hamas.

He has been closely involved in the group's efforts to broker several truces with Israel, including in the current attempts to end the Gaza war.

In the early 1980’s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sunni Islamist movement from which Hamas emerged, along with Haniyeh and Sinwar.

He was also detained in Gaza several times by Israel. In 2007, an Israeli airstrike hit his family's home in Gaza City's Shejaia quarter, killing several relatives. Israel bombed the house of Hayya’s eldest son, Osama, back in 2014, killing the son and his wife and three children.

Several years ago, Hayya left Gaza, serving as a person for Hamas to maintain ties with the Arab and Islamic worlds, basing himself in Qatar. He accompanied Haniyeh to Tehran for the visit in July, during which Haniyeh was assassinated. He has been cited as saying the October 7, 2023, attacks had been meant as a limited operation by Hamas to capture "several soldiers" to swap for jailed Palestinians.

As per the Israeli death tolls, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in the 2023 attacks. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Gaza health ministry.

In addition to leading Hamas delegations in mediated ceasefire negotiations, he has undertaken various other prominent political roles for the group. In 2022, he headed a Hamas delegation to Damascus to restore relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

(With inputs from Reuters)