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Khaled Mashal
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<p>Khaled Mashal is a Palestinian politician who served as the second <a href="/facts/List_of_leaders_of_Hamas/ysgsWCj3">chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau</a> from 1996 until May 2017, when he was succeeded by <a href="/facts/Ismail_Haniyeh/XUKA43Mg">Ismail Haniyeh</a>. He has also covered duties as the acting leader of <a href="/facts/Hamas/VjIkApsc">Hamas</a> twice, from <a href="/facts/Assassination_of_Ismail_Haniyeh/WLJ617fD">July 2024</a> until August 2024 and since <a href="/facts/Killing_of_Yahya_Sinwar/SyKtmUaB">October 2024</a>, after both leaders were assassinated by <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>. He was regarded as one of the most prominent leaders of <a href="/facts/Hamas/VjIkApsc">Hamas</a> since <a href="/facts/Killing_of_Ahmed_Yassin/taBzTbXH">the death</a> of <a href="/facts/Ahmed_Yassin/slemmIv2">Ahmed Yassin</a>, alongside Ismail Haniyeh and <a href="/facts/Yahya_Sinwar/R8wXUdjV">Yahya Sinwar</a>. </p><p>Israel's occupation of the <a href="/facts/West_Bank/xzTTVNJl">West Bank</a> and the <a href="/facts/Gaza_Strip/GodcCxlV">Gaza Strip</a> during the 1967 <a href="/facts/Six-Day_War/xM8d0Wy1">Six-Day War</a> forced Mashal's family to flee Palestine. He has since lived in exile in other parts of the <a href="/facts/Arab_world/F8Jouq98">Arab world</a>. For that reason, he was considered part of Hamas' "external leadership". </p><p>After the founding of Hamas in the wake of the <a href="/facts/First_Intifada/pBcf45xY">First Intifada</a> against the <a href="/facts/Israeli-occupied_territories/FxQkx2V8">Israeli occupation</a> in 1987, Mashal became the leader of the <a href="/facts/Kuwait/HJLFQ59s">Kuwaiti</a> branch of the organization. In 1992, he became a founding member of Hamas' <a href="/facts/Politburo/7IsC9LrT">politburo</a> and its chairman. He became the recognized head of Hamas after Israel assassinated both Sheikh <a href="/facts/Ahmed_Yassin/slemmIv2">Ahmed Yassin</a> and his successor <a href="/facts/Abdel_Aziz_al-Rantisi/GtHIznLC">Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi</a> in the spring of 2004. Under his leadership, Hamas secured a surprise majority of the seats in the <a href="/facts/2006_Palestinian_legislative_election/Co9gL72n">Palestinian legislative election</a> in 2006. Mashal stepped down as Hamas' politburo chairman at the end of his term limit in 2017. </p>