A federal lawsuit filed by American family members of October 7 victims accuses Palestinian-American billionaire, Bashar Masri, of orchestrating a property development scheme in Gaza that helped Hamas to conceal and carry out its deadly terror attack in Israel. 

The allegations appear to challenge Mr. Masri’s reputation as a pragmatic, neutral Palestinian figure, an identity which has granted him unique access to the Trump administration and recently teed him up to pioneer Gaza’s post-war reconstruction. 

The suit, filed in Washington federal court on Monday, claims that Mr. Masri, a real estate tycoon, contracted and operated hotels and businesses in Gaza under the guise of “outwardly legitimate purposes.” In reality, however, the properties were “knowingly and deliberately integrated into Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure” and served as “crucial elements” in Hamas’s October 7 attack. 

Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that Mr. Masri’s developments — some of which reportedly were contracted directly by Hamas — were used by the terror group to construct and conceal its vast underground tunnels, store and serve as firing bases for rockets, offer training ground for Hamas naval commandos, host Hamas’s leaders and foot soldiers, and even generate electricity for Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure. 

Such businesses include the Al Mashtal Hotel, which was identified by the Israel Defense Forces in 2014 as a Hamas rocket launch site. After the building suffered damages from IDF rocket fire that same year, Mr. Masri reportedly arranged for a renovation that equipped the hotel with electrical upgrades that powered Hamas’s tunnel network below. Under Mr. Masri’s authority, the hotel was “regularly” used by Hamas operatives and leaders, including architect of the October 7 attacks, Yahya Sinwar, to host public and private Hamas events, the complaint alleges. 

Mr. Masri denies allegations listed in the lawsuit and has voiced his intention to seek an immediate dismissal of the case. “Bashar Masri is a successful and respected Palestinian American entrepreneur and business leader,” his office stated on Monday. “He was shocked to learn through the media that a baseless complaint was filed today referring to false allegations against him and certain businesses he is associated with. Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy.”

Mr. Masri, the chairman of the Palestinian Development and Investment Company, has received wide acclaim for championing the $1.4 billion development of Rawabi, the Palestinian Authority’s first planned city in the West Bank. In 2018, the entrepreneur received a spot on Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s most influential figures. 

The seasoned businessman was born to a prominent Palestinian family in Nablus and has successfully maintained a reputation as a neutral figure without ties to Hamas or the Palestinian authority. 

According to the suit, Mr. Masri leveraged this “meticulously cultivated” image in Washington to secure consulting contracts and financing for projects in Gaza from groups like the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the European Union, and others. Those development programs were ultimately exploited to further Hamas’s terror infrastructure, the complaint alleges. 

The Palestinian-American appears to have made inroads with the Trump administration, having reportedly served as an advisor and provided private jet transportation to President Trump’s former nominee to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler. Mr. Boehler was later named special envoy at the State Department and conducted direct negotiations with Hamas in March. 

In 2020, during the first Trump administration, Mr. Masri was placed on the advisory council for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, a federal agency run by Mr. Boelher at the time. Mr. Masri held the position until 2023. 

The plaintiffs, which include some 200 family members of October 7 terror attack victims, seek monetary damages under the Anti-Terrorism Act and demand that Mr. Masri, and his companies, are held liable for aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. 

“The lawsuit cites evidence that prominent Palestinian investors raised money from the World Bank, UN, the EU and others to build an industrial park as well as luxury hotels in Gaza, but then worked with Hamas to develop its terror tunnels beneath those same projects,” Israel’s former minister of science and technology, plaintiff Izhar Shay, who lost his son on October 7, said. 

He continued: “We can’t go back to a pre-October 7th mindset where people pretend that it is possible to support economic development in a Gaza controlled by Hamas without also supporting its terrorist infrastructure.”