Essam al-Da'alis

Biography Al-Daalis was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in 1966. He worked in various roles for UNRWA, including assistant director, member of its employee union, and head of its teachers' department. Between 2012 and 2014, al-Daalis was an advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was a member of the Hamas Shura Council from 2009 to 2013, leading the group's financial and economic department. He was deputy head of Hamas's political movement from 2012 to 2020. In March 2020, al-Daalis was elected to Hamas' Political Bureau in the Gaza Strip and became head of its media department.

In June 2021, al-Daalis left his position in the Hamas Political Bureau after the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elected al-Da'alis as the head of the Government Administrative Committee of the Gaza Strip. Despite performing, from 2021 up until the beginning of the Gaza war, day-to-day work in the Gaza Strip akin to that of a head of government, al-Da'alis, in contrast to most other Hamas's leaders, had not been the target of Western sanctions.

Al-Da'alis was reported to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on 23 July 2024, but his death was not confirmed by Hamas. He was killed during the 18 March 2025 attacks, at the age of 58. Hamas confirmed his death.