Senior Hamas leaders Imad al-Alami (R) and Mahmoud Zahar (C)
Senior Hamas leaders Imad al-Alami (R) and Mahmoud Zahar (C)REUTERS

A senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization has died, a Hamas spokesman said Tuesday, three weeks after he suffered what the terror organization claimed was an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head.

On January 9th, Fawzy Barhoum, spokesman for the Gaza-based Islamist terror group, said that Imad al-Alami, one of the movement’s most senior officials, was critically wounded when his personal firearm accidentally discharged.

Al-Alami, 61, was "inspecting his personal weapon in his home and is in critical condition,” Barhoum said at the time.

The Hamas leader was rushed to a Gaza City hospital.

On Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem reported that Al-Alami had succumbed to his wounds, dying in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.

Outlawed by the US in 2003 for his position in Hamas, al-Alami was considered one of the Gaza terror group’s most important assets, due to his extensive ties with the Iranian government – a major sponsor of Hamas – and his personal relationship with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, himself a client of the Tehran regime.

In recent years, al-Alami operated out of Turkey, where he received medical treatment.

A founding father of the Hamas terror group, al-Alami returned to the Gaza Strip in 2012, where he previously served as deputy chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, and once chaired its “Intifada Committee”.

In November, 2016, al-Alami was reportedly selected as Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s designated successor.

The shooting incident fueled a variety of conspiracy theories within the Palestinian Authority, ranging from claims al-Alami was assassinated, to suggestions he may have committed suicide following years of serious health problems. In 2014, al-Alami’s residence was hit during the conflict between Hamas and Israel, leading to the amputation of one of his legs. He has received numerous treatments in Turkey for injuries resulting from the bombing.