Sources told the Palestinian newspaper al-Quds that the head of the political bureau plans to run for a second term in office in the terrorist organization

• Ismail Haniyeh is expected to remain outside the Gaza Strip

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  AFP

Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh plans to stay abroad until the terrorist elections are scheduled to take place in April or May 2021, sources told the Palestinian newspaper al-Quds. 

According to sources who spoke with the newspaper, Haniyeh is expected to be a prominent candidate for the second term of the political bureau, and this is the main motive for pushing him to stay out of the Gaza Strip for another term. The Political Bureau serves as Hamas' political arm, which believes, among other things, on foreign relations with the countries of the world, the Palestinian diaspora and fundraising for the terrorist organization. So the bureau chief usually resides abroad. In the past, the bureau sat in Damascus, but since the civil war in Syria it has moved to Doha, Qatar. 

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Haniyeh is currently in Doha and ahead of the Corona epidemic is traveling between and between Istanbul. The sources told Al-Quds that it is still working to improve the state of the terrorist organization with the other senior officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad. In his travel schedule. 

The Palestinian newspaper said the internal elections in the organization are expected to undergo a series of changes before they are implemented. Hamas holds internal elections every four years to elect the head of the political bureau, which will be able to continue for two terms in a row. Although there is a possibility that a candidate will be selected for a third term, not continuously, after someone else has served in the position.

In 2017 Haniyeh was elected as heir to the former bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, who has been in office since 1996. In that election, Haniyeh's rivals were Musa Abu Marzouk and Muhammad Nazal. 

For a long time, Egypt did not allow Hania to leave the Gaza Strip despite his role. Only in December 2019 was the head of the Political Bureau approved to fly to Qatar for the first time since he was elected.