Muhammad Ismail Darwish

Muhammad Ismail Darwish (Arabic: محمد إسماعيل درويش, romanized: Muḥammad ʾIsmāʿīl Darwīsh), also known as Abu Omar Hassan (Arabic: أبو عمر حسن, romanized: ʾAbū ʿUmar Ḥasan), is a Lebanese-born Palestinian politician who has served as the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council since October 2023, succeeding Osama Mazini, after his death on 16 October 2023 by an Israeli strike.^[1]

"Abu Omar Hassan" redirects here. For other people named Abu Omar and Hassan respectively, see Abu Omar (disambiguation) and Hassan (given name).

Muhammad Ismail Darwish محمد إسماعيل درويش
Darwish in 2025
Chairman of the Hamas Shura Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 October 2023
Preceded by	Osama Mazini
Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau
Acting
Assumed office 16 October 2024 Serving with Khaled Mashal, Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, and an unnamed Hamas official
Preceded by	Yahya Sinwar
Personal details
Born	Muhammad Ismail Darwish Palestinian refugee camp, Lebanon
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Hamas
Residence(s)	Doha, Qatar

Early life

Muhammad Ismail Darwish was born in the Palestinian refugee camp, Lebanon.

Career

He joined Hamas and is almost unknown as he does not appear in the media. Over the years, he dealt with and built the organization's economy, including transferring money from Iran to Hamas as well as investments around the world.^[2]

He lives in Qatar.^[2]

On 29 January 2025, he met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey.^[3]

On 1 March 2025, Darwish announced Hamas willingness to abstain from participating in the governance of post-war Gaza, calling for a national unity government or a non-partisan technocratic body to rule the territory.^[4]