Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who survived a 1997 Israeli assassination bid, has confirmed he wants to quit after eight years in the post, the Islamist movement said yesterday. “Political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal has notified Hamas’s consultative council that he does not wish to be a candidate for the movement’s future leadership,” a statement said.

Senior Hamas figures have asked the Damascus-based Meshaal to reconsider, the statement said.

They urged him to leave it to the consultative council to decide “on the basis of the higher interests of the movement,” stressing that it was “not a purely personal matter”.

Meshaal, 55, will remain active in Hamas “in the service of the people, the movement and the Palestinian cause,” the statement stressed.