A senior Hamas official and one of the Palestinian terror group's founding fathers has died after suffering a head wound in what reports are describing as an "unexplained shooting" . Hamas announced that Imad al-Alami died Tuesday after being unconscious since a January 9 mysterious incident said to have occurred at his Gaza City home, which sparked widespread speculation over what happened.

Fueling the speculation was a hasty Hamas statement released on January 9 which initially claimed he had died of "natural causes" but a subsequent statement was quickly issued saying he accidentally shot himself in the head while "inspecting his personal weapon in his home and is in critical condition." The 62-year old Alami, who also went by Abu Hamam, had been in critical condition in a Gaza hospital for the three weeks before his death.

Alami was classified as a "specially designated global terrorist" by the US in 2003 after spending a career holding key posts within Hamas' policy-making body, which included years heading up Hamas headquarters-in-exile offices in Damascus, before returning to the Gaza strip in 2012. He also oversaw Hamas military operations in the West Bank during his time in Syria.