Oct. 7 victims, families file $7B lawsuit against 'primary architects' of attacks
American victims of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and their families filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Palestinian militant group and others they said “planned and perpetrated” the assault, seeking at least $7 billion in damages.
The lawsuit, backed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), claims that Hamas and six militant groups carried out the “unfathomable atrocities” with “material support” from Iran, Syria, North Korea and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group.
Some 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 250 were taken hostage. Those victims include the more than 140 U.S. citizens and their family members who are plaintiffs in the case, according to the lawsuit.
“The terrorists were not an independent band of marauders,” the lawsuit alleges. “They were organized death squads deployed by their terrorist organizations, and supported, funded, and supplied by terrorist-sponsoring countries and terrorist groups, who have consistently supported and sponsored terrorist attacks on Americans and their allies, including in Israel, and continue to do so today.”
The attack began Israel’s current conflict in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military formally launched a long-planned ground operation in Gaza City, which it says is among Hamas’s last remaining strongholds. The Palestinian death toll in the war has surpassed 65,000, local health officials said Wednesday.
The other militant groups named as defendants are Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the Popular Resistance Committees.
The lawsuit seeks $1 billion in actual damages against all the defendants, in addition to $3 billion in punitive damages against both the militant groups and the alleged state sponsors, plus Hezbollah.
The ADL must also confront rules that limit plaintiffs' ability to haul foreign sovereigns into U.S. courts.
In a press release, the ADL called the defendants the “primary architects” of the attacks.
The organization said the lawsuit aims to both seek justice for the victims and expose the mechanisms through which the countries named as defendants and their allies fund terrorist operations.
“The victims of the October 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability and redress,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons, and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities.”
The law firm Crowell & Moring, which has previously represented victims of terror attacks, is co-counsel.
Thursday’s lawsuit is the second the two legal teams have filed over the Oct. 7 attacks.
They sued in July 2024 on behalf of 180 plaintiffs claiming that Iran, Syria and North Korea provided material support to Hamas ahead of the assault. As of Sept. 5, diplomatic service had been completed on Iran, and plaintiffs were awaiting confirmation from the State Department that the same had been done for Syria and North Korea, according to court filings.