American billionaire granted USAID funds for Gaza project allegedly funneled cash to Hamas for 'terror tunnels'

In a bombshell lawsuit, Palestinian-American billionaire Bashar Masri is being accused of using United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and international-funded Gaza infrastructure projects to help Palestinian terrorists build their terror tunnel network.

According to a lawsuit filed on Monday on behalf of American October 7 massacre victims by law firms Osen LLC, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, and Motley Rice LLC, in 2021, Masri allegedly rebuilt the Gaza Industrial Estate (GIE), a 480,000 square meter industrial park that had been established in 1997 with support from USAID, turning it into a hub of Hamas operations including for the terrorist tunnel network,  which was used to cross under the border to attack Israelis.

 

"Above ground, the GIE was a showcase for legitimate businesses like Coca-Cola and a variety of light manufacturing companies," the suit stated. "But beneath the surface, Masri and the companies he controls worked with Hamas to construct and conceal an elaborate subterranean attack tunnel network which Hamas used to burrow under the border into Israel, to attack nearby Israeli communities, and to ambush Israeli military personnel. Hamas also used the GIE to probe the border fence and test the IDF’s response times and countermeasures in the lead up to the October 7 Attack."

The lawsuit claimed that Masri in May 2022 "personally presided over the signing of a joint venture agreement with Hamas to rebuild parts of the GIE," with Hamas manufacturing division commander and economy minister Abd al-Fattah al-Zari’I, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in August for his role in organizing terrorist operations and seizing humanitarian aid, attending the signing representing Hamas.

Masri also allegedly worked with Hamas to supply the tunnel system with electricity from solar power and green energy technology that were funded by the US, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

The families of the Oct 7 massacre victims are accusing Masri, who sits on the board of Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and his companies of working with Hamas and contributing to the 2023 attack, and are seeking to hold him accountable under the US Anti-Terrorism Act.

One of the plaintiffs, Izhar Shay, former Israeli science and technology minister whose son was killed in the October 7 attacks, said that the lawsuit presented evidence that Palestinian investors raised money from the World Bank, the UN, and the EU to build projects but coordinated with Hamas to develop subterranean infrastructure.

Shay said in a statement, “We can’t go back to a pre-October 7 mindset where people pretend that it is possible to support economic development in a Gaza controlled by Hamas without also supporting its terrorist infrastructure," per the Jerusalem Post.

According to the complaint, two luxury hotels held by Masri’s companies were involved in facilitating Hamas’s terrorist activities. Former Hamas head Yahya Sinwar was said to have been operating out of these locations.

Osen said in a statement that the lawsuit was not only striving for justice but to expose the individuals and companies that aided Hamas atrocities, chief among them Masri.

Plaintiff Iris Weinstein Haggai, whose parents were murdered on October 7, said in a statement that “since October 7 our priority has been to get our hostages back, but we’re also seeking accountability and that includes accountability under American law – not just for Hamas but also for those who knowingly helped it.” 

Osen LLC managing partner Gary Osen said in a press release, “Any assessment of the factors that enabled Hamas to carry out these unprecedented attacks is woefully incomplete without considering the terror tunnel network’s central role.”