Ismail Haniya

The situation in the Middle East remains highly volatile and appears increasingly grim. In Western capitals, there is significant concern about a potential escalation of Israel’s conflict with the terrorist organizations Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian involvement cannot be dismissed either.

Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has assumed the leadership of the Palestinian group. This announcement by Hamas comes a week after their previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran, as reported by Reuters.

Ismail Haniya’s successor as head of Hamas’s political wing will be Mohammad Ismail Darwish, Saudi news channel Al Arabiya reported, citing unnamed sources.

Darwish, who lives in Qatar, will head the Palestinian movement’s politburo until new elections are held, the sources added.

Israel would consider a pre-emptive strike on Iran if it had solid evidence that Tehran was preparing to launch an attack against it, Israeli media reported after Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Israel’s security chiefs this afternoon on Sunday.

This was confirmed by Husam Badran, a member of the Hamas representative office in Qatar, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. According to Badran, Hamas wants an end to the war and a "Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya spoke on Sept. 18 for the first time in nearly a year, adding impetus to a surprise reconciliation between their factions locked in bitter dispute for 10 years.

Hamas said on Sept. 17 it had agreed to steps toward resolving a decade-long split with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, announcing it would dissolve a body seen as a rival government and was ready to hold elections.

The Palestinian consensus government has failed to meet its commitment to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip, former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya has said.