Families of Israeli terror victims are suing for compensation from Qatari banks that they say have funded terrorist activity by Hamas, according to a collective lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The NIS 1 billion civil action was filed at the Jerusalem District Court by the Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin organization on behalf of 120 plaintiffs from 24 families of terror victims.
The lawsuit claims that Qatari banks and charities transferred money to the military wings of Palestinian terror groups, including sums handed over during the recent 11-day war in Gaza.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the families of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher, who was raped and murdered in 2019; four-year-old Daniel Tregerman, who was killed by a strike on his home in the 2014 Gaza war; and Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi, who was murdered in a 2015 knife attack in Jerusalem.
Shurat Hadin said it submitted to the court proof of bank transfers from "rogue" charitable organizations and Qatari banks, which in recent years have delivered millions of dollars from the Gulf region to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
It also provided what it said were confessions from Palestinian terrorists during questioning in Israel that confirm the "financial pipeline" for the transfer of the funds.
The lawsuit names 10 organizations, banks and charitable funds in Qatar and the Palestinian Authority, including several owned by the Qatari government, Shirat HaDin said.
The organizations named include Masraf al Rayan Bank, Qatar National Bank, the Ramallah branch of Palestine Bank Ltd. and the Palestine Islamic Bank.
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4-year-old Daniel Tregerman was killed in a mortar strike from Gaza on his home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the 2014 war
(Photo: Courtesy)
The lawsuit focuses on the Qatari al-Hiriya organization in Doha, which is also known as the "Qatar Charity Association" or “Charitable Qatar Society,” which Israel named as an illegal association in 2008.
The suit claims that money was transferred directly to terrorist organizations in Gaza through the organization's branches in Ramallah.