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Victims and families of the October 7th attacks on Israel have filed a $7 billion lawsuit against multiple militant groups and state sponsors over the attack that left over 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage.

Getting into it: The lawsuit, filed by the ADL, has over 140 plaintiffs, including American victims of the attacks and their families. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs allege that the October 7, 2023, attacks were not spontaneous acts of violence but a highly coordinated assault carried out by organized terrorist factions with the strategic backing of hostile foreign states. According to the complaint, the attackers received material support in the form of funding, weapons, training, and intelligence from these nations.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Hamas and seven additional militant groups: Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, Popular Resistance Committees, and Hezbollah. The suit also targets the governments of Iran, Syria, and North Korea, which the US has formally designated as state sponsors of terrorism. Plaintiffs argue that these countries were not merely passive enablers but active collaborators in orchestrating the attacks, and that they bear direct responsibility for the deaths, injuries, hostage-taking, and long-term trauma inflicted on victims and their families.

The civil action seeks a total of at least $7 billion in damages: $1 billion in actual damages for the immediate harms suffered, and $3 billion in punitive damages directed at both the militant organizations and their state sponsors. The remaining requested damages are meant to serve as both financial redress and a deterrent against future acts of terrorism.

Despite the lawsuit, many have said this is more symbolic in nature since it would be extremely hard (if not impossible) to get some of the defendants in a courtroom.