The man expected to be named the new top political leader after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was previously poisoned by Israeli agents and survived only after Israel was forced to hand over an antidote.
Following Haniyeh’s assassination in an apparent airstrike that Iran has blamed on Israel, Hamas sources said that Khaled Meshaal is the top candidate to take charge, Reuters reported.
Meshaal, 68, had once served as Hamas’ exiled leader in the 1990s, with his name becoming famous around the world after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the hit against him.
Israeli agents swarmed Meshaal on the street just outside his office in the Jordan capital of Amman, injecting him with poison.
The assassination attempt sparked such fury from Jordan’s king that he threatened to walk out of a peace treaty with Netanyahu and hang the captured agents if Israel did not hand over the antidote.
Israel agreed to the terms, with Meshaal continuing to serve as a member of Hamas’ Politburo, the 15-member board that governs Gaza from abroad.
Meshaal works as the leader of Palestinian diasporic affairs.
Meshaal has previously praised the brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack as proof that Hamas can complete its true goal of wiping out Israel — rejecting any and all proposals for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Along with Meshaal, Hamas sources told Reuters that senior official Khalil al-Hayya, another member of the Politburo who served as the deputy leader in Gaza, is also a favorite to succeed Haniyeh.
Al-Hayya has served as the head of the ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
With Post wires
