"The Hamas Shura Council on Saturday elected Ismail Haniya as head of the movement's political bureau", the Hamas media said.
It also comes following the unveiling of an updated Hamas charter in which the group eased its stand on Israel and called the establishment of a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 lines with Jerusalem as its capital is a "formula for a national consensus".
Abdulatif al-Qanou, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that Haniya replaced Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader that has been the chief of the movement for eight years.
The group maintains a sizeable armed wing in the Gaza Strip since seizing the coastal territory in 2007 from the rival Fatah party, which is based in the West Bank and has fought three wars with Israel.
The U.S. has long considered the group a terrorist organization because of its attacks against Israel.
Haniyeh, who spent several terms in Israeli prisons-about four years altogether- became prime minister of the Palestinian Authority after Hamas had won the PA legislative elections of 2006.
Moreover, by the announcement, Hamas may have wanted to show a delink from the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement and draw a distinction between Palestinians' struggle against Israel.
Meshaal was elected Hamas leader in 1996.
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The conflict between the Islamist Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah movement, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, continues to deepen.
He is now expected to leave the Gaza Strip and reside overseas.
Hamas said that the new leader will be good for the organization.
"Haniyeh's new position could require him to go on tours outside Gaza", he said.
Juggling militancy with a desire for global recognition, Hamas last week unveiled a new document of principles that is said would guide the group.
Israel, along with Egypt, has been enforcing a border blockade against the group since then. Prior to that, for 10 years, he worked for Hamas charities as well as at the Islamic University of Gaza.
Haniyeh will assume the head role in the wake of Hamas recently updating its 1988 founding charter which softened its stance on Israel.
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