Ahmed al-Kurd, 71, a member of HAMAS’s Political Bureau and a leading figure in the Palestinian cause, died of a heart attack earlier last night.

Ahmad al-Kurd was the mayor of Deir al-Balah located in the central Gaza Strip. He was elected as mayor in 2005 as the candidate for Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS). He also occupied the job of local sheikh in the Deir al-Balah mosque.

Al-Kurd was the director of the Gaza Strip-based charity organization Salah Society. The organization has a school which has enrolled 1,000 orphans and other youngsters in Deir al-Balah.

Al-Kurd was born in Deir al-Balah camp a year after his family of five fled their home village near Ashkelon. That family now consists of 70 people, and Ahmad Kurd himself has 11 children with his Russian wife. Al-Kurd stated to the Washington Post, "I'm not asking to return to Ashkelon. I want to live in Deir al Balah, in a decent city, in an independent Palestinian state like other states.” (ILKHA)