Palestinian billionaire accused of building terror infrastructure for Hamas is sued by Oct. 7 attack victims families

WASHINGTON — A US-based billionaire Palestinian developer was sued Monday by nearly 200 family members of Americans killed in Hamas’ Oct.7 terror attack — as well as Israel’s ambassador to Washington — for “aiding and abetting” the terror group as it planned its deadly incursion.Bashar Masri, a naturalized American who lived as recently as 2022 in Washington, DC, per FEC filings, was accused of providing an “essential part” of Hamas’ “terror infrastructure” by facilitating the construction of tunnels and rocket-launch sites as well as providing leaders like Yahya Sinwar the use of electricity at properties he owns in Gaza.That infrastructure was located at an industrial park just yards from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the Karni crossing from Israel into Gaza — and at two lavish hotels on the Mediterranean, one of which became the site of a pitched battle between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas in the early months of the war.“On and after October 7, Defendants provided electricity to Hamas and specifically to Hamas attack tunnels built under and into Defendants’ properties,” wrote attorney Lee Wolosky of Willkie Farr and Gallagher LLP, one of the attorneys representing the victims’ families, in the suit.“Defendants provided services that legitimized Hamas and gave its operations under and within Defendants’ properties greater protection from Israeli and U.S.

action.All of this assistance was beneficial to Hamas in sustaining its iron-fisted rule in Gaza and in committing acts of international terrorism.”As recently as last month, Masri was advising Trump’s then-envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler about post-war plans for Gaza, according to the Jerusalem Post, accompanying Boehler to diplomatic meetings in Doha, Qatar, and Cairo, Egypt.Masri has long been a celebrated figure in Washington diplomatic circles — decades after helping with “planning” the First Intifada of 1987 against Israel — and was the driving force...