Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal will not be running for re-election, according to Arabic media reports citing sources close to the Hamas leader. The reports referred to internal Hamas elections expected to take place in the coming weeks in Doha, Qatar. Mashaal has served as Hamas' political bureau chief for 20 years. According to the reports, his most likely successor is either his deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, or Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh. At the same time, senior Hamas officials denied that the election of a new political bureau chief will be in the near future, claiming it is about a year away. The reports further stated that Mashaal has recently met with officials in Egypt and Qatar who urged him to run for re-election. Meanwhile, the U.N. Mideast envoy says threats by Hamas to continue building tunnels into Israel do "not help" reconstruction efforts in war-battered Gaza Strip. Nikolay Mladenov spoke on Wednesday during a visit to Gaza. He toured Shujaiyya, one of the hardest hit areas in the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel. His remarks appeared to be a veiled criticism aimed at the Islamic terrorist group, which has struggled to balance its hard-line anti-Israel ideology and the pragmatic needs of ruling the territory. Hamas officials have pledged to continue building tunnels along the Israeli border, even after recent collapses killed 10 Hamas fighters. Israel views the tunnels as a top threat. Reconstruction in Gaza has been sluggish. Mladenov says only a third of funds pledged by international donors has been received.
