A lawsuit filed on behalf of families of victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks accuses a leading Palestinian American developer with ties to the Trump administration of actively supporting the terror group as it orchestrated its deadly invasion of Israel.

The complaint, filed in Washington federal district court on Monday, alleges that Bashar Masri, a well-known businessman, owns several properties in Gaza that Hamas “used to construct and conceal” its tunnel network and “store and launch its rockets into Israel.” The suit also alleges that the properties helped “provide cover for Hamas’ true violent aims” in the lead-up to the attacks that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and claimed several hundred hostages.

Among the plaintiffs are the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the Israeli-American hostage murdered by Hamas in Gaza; Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S.; and Eyal Waldman, an Israeli philanthropist and former business partner of Masri whose daughter was killed at the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 attacks.

While the lawsuit does not claim that Masri had advance knowledge of the Hamas-led attacks, it asserts that he and his companies, which are also listed as defendants, knowingly played a direct role in aiding and abetting the U.S.-designated terrorist group as it planned its massacre in southern Israel.

The Masri-owned properties “developed with Hamas were not only part of the infrastructure Hamas used in connection with the Oct. 7 attack itself,” the lawsuit states. “Their development deliberately advanced Hamas’ false narrative that it was interested primarily in the economic development of Gaza and a grudging coexistence with Israel.”

The three properties referenced in the lawsuit as “crucial elements in Hamas’ attack plan” include two luxury hotels in Gaza that were allegedly used to host Hamas leaders and connected to the group’s underground infrastructure. The other property, an industrial park bordering a kibbutz targeted on Oct. 7, concealed “an elaborate subterranean attack tunnel” and “siphoned off electricity” from a “World Bank-funded solar project” to power the operations below the site, according to the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit also notes that the park, called the Gaza Industrial Estate, received funding from the United States Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration has effectively shuttered in recent months.

Masri denied the claims in a statement his office shared with Jewish Insider on Monday. “Bashar Masri is a successful and respected Palestinian American entrepreneur and business leader,” the statement said. “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,” the statement continued. “Bashar Masri has been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades. His continued efforts to promote regional peace and stability have been widely recognized by the United States and all concerned parties in the region. He unequivocally opposes violence of any kind. He will seek the dismissal of these false allegations in court.”

Masri, whose other development projects include Rawabi, a planned city in the West Bank, has also reportedly served as a behind-the-scenes advisor to Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s hostage envoy — who faced scrutiny last month for engaging in direct negotiations with Hamas.

A spokesperson for Masri told JI that she did not “know anything” about his role aiding Boehler in the negotiations.

The White House referred a request for comment from JI on Monday to the hostage envoy’s office at the State Department, which declined to comment.

The new lawsuit is among several ongoing legal challenges targeting Hamas-linked groups under the Anti-Terrorism Act. But according to Gary Osen, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs seeking damages against Masri, who number around 200, this effort stands out largely because of the specificity of its claims about “a very high-profile individual” who has “worked hand in glove with Hamas, literally beneath the surface, to help” the group develop its “terror infrastructure.”

Though the connection to Boehler “has no bearing on the case itself,” Osen said in an interview with JI on Monday that it underscored how the developer has “actively cultivated an image of moderation and respectability, at least to Western audiences,” while enabling Hamas’ military operations against Israel.

“Those kinds of things are part and parcel of what has made him successful,” Osen said of Masri, who chairs the Palestine Development and Investment Company.

More broadly, Osen, who last year launched a separate lawsuit against Iran on behalf of Oct. 7 victims and their family members, said the new case against Masri and his properties in Gaza represents “a meeting of the international community funding apparatus and its exploitation and use by Hamas for terroristic purposes.”