More than 500 victims of the tragic October 7 massacre filed a legal action on Wednesday in the Yerushalayim District Court, demanding NIS 4.5 billion (approximately $1.2 billion) in compensation from the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and former Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Committee head Qadura Fares.
The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of both direct and indirect involvement in orchestrating the attack and its preparation.
Among the plaintiffs are the Akuni family from Netiv HaAsara. Ruti and Aryeh, along with their daughter Or, were killed in the attack, as well as the family of Ohad Yahalomi, who was buried on Wednesday, and Yonatan Brosh, who was injured at his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz while his wife, Shoshana, was murdered right before his eyes. “Our lives were shattered in an instant on October 7,” Brosh stated. “At 6:50 a.m., terrorists broke into our home, throwing grenades and firing as they reached our shelter, which we thought would protect us. The bullets penetrated the door, killing Shoshi and wounding me. I fully support suing those who backed and participated in crimes against innocent civilians.”
This lawsuit has been in preparation for over the past year, with testimonies collected and victims being organized at a designated center. Research teams both in Israel and abroad have been involved in investigating the attack’s planning and financing, consulting experts from the fields of security, medicine, intelligence, and law.
The plaintiffs state that their case is based on “pioneering research” that claims the PA, the PLO, and Fares — who was responsible for payments to Nukhba terrorists and their families — were directly engaged in preparing and financing the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre. The lawsuit outlines alleged activities by the PA and PLO from 2018 to 2023, including joint military drills in Gaza involving various terrorist groups under the banner of the “Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.” It also alleges that terrorists were trained in Palestinian educational institutions run by Hamas and funded by the PA. “The preparations and training for ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ (the Palestinian name for the massacre) took place over five years and included multiple large-scale exercises across Gaza involving thousands of terrorists from various terror groups,” the lawsuit states.
“These activities required extensive logistical and governmental support from ‘civilian’ offices in Gaza. The funding for this support was provided by the defendants — the PA and PLO — through their budget allocations to Gaza’s ‘civilian’ authorities,” it continues. The plaintiffs are demanding a ruling that holds the PA, PLO, and Fares directly and indirectly accountable for the massacre and urges them to pay NIS 4.491 billion in compensation to the victims’ families and survivors, as well as punitive damages for deterrence. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Dr. Gideon Fisher, Mordechai Haller, and Shai Rubin on behalf of over 500 plaintiffs and their families, all officially recognized as victims of terrorism who experienced physical or psychological harm due to the October 7 attack and the subsequent Gaza war.
ZAKA search and rescue head Dubi Weissenstern, one of the plaintiffs, commented: “Even after more than a year of war, many ZAKA volunteers and I cannot forget the horrors we saw in those first weeks. Despite our experience with disaster sites, the sheer scale, smells and nightmarish scenes deeply affected us and those around us. This lawsuit is the most justified action we can take.”
Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, a member of the expert team, remarked: “The PA bears no less responsibility than Hamas for the October 7 massacre. It has poisoned Palestinian society with anti-Jewish hatred, promoted the destruction of Israel, and paid hundreds of millions of shekels annually to reward terrorists. It later provided them with international diplomatic cover. Since the PA is a driving force behind terrorism, it must be held accountable. Instead of funding terrorist salaries, it should be paying terror victims.”
Attorney Dr. Gideon Fisher added: “After filing three lawsuits against terror financiers in the U.S., we have now filed the first lawsuit in Israel against the PA and other defendants for their role in the October 7 massacre and their direct and indirect responsibility for the terror originating from Gaza. Alongside the military efforts and the hostage rescue mission, we see it as our duty to disrupt the terror pipeline through legal action and secure justice for the victims.”
{Matzav.com Israel}