Imad al-Alami

Imad Khalil al-Alami (195630 January 2018), also known as Abu Hammam, and he earned a degree in civil engineering from Alexandria University. He joined Hamas in the late 1980s, and is considered a founding member of the group.

Al-Alami was exiled by Israel to Lebanon in 1991

By 2003, he had moved to Damascus, Syria. When Hamas abandoned its headquarters in Damascus over disagreements with Tehran after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, al-Alami was the last Hamas official to leave Damascus for Gaza in a last-ditch effort to salvage the relationship.

From 2013 to 2017 al-Alami was the Hamas Deputy Chief in the Gaza Strip, However, some experts and commentators questioned the veracity of Hamas's account, speculating that a rival Hamas member may have shot al-Alami.

Al-Alami was left unconscious after the shooting and died three weeks later at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on 30 January.

Hundreds of Gazans, including several top Hamas officials, joined his funeral procession in Gaza City. At a funeral at the Great Mosque of Gaza, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh praised al-Alami, saying that "Hamas was Abu Hamam and Abu Hamam was Hamas."