At a closed briefing for international correspondents in central Israel, the war against Hamas was described not as a concluded military campaign but as an ongoing confrontation unfolding far from the battlefield. Through civil lawsuits, asset seizures, and legislative pressure, Israeli lawyers and victims’ families outlined how courts have become a central arena for disrupting terror financing and challenging institutions long shielded by legal immunity.
My life stopped at the age of 48. I have not worked since then. I am a simple man, an ordinary citizen, fighting alone against powerful international bodies, and I demand one thing: that they take responsibility.
The emotional anchor of the briefing came from Kobi Samerano, whose testimony framed the legal discussion in human terms. Samerano explained that he had decided to speak publicly because silence had followed tragedy. “My life stopped at the age of 48,” he said. “I have not worked since then. I am a simple man, an ordinary citizen, fighting alone against powerful international bodies, and I demand one thing: that they take responsibility.” His son, Jonathan, was murdered in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, and Samerano said that two and a half hours later, his body was taken. “A social worker kidnapped his body,” he said, alleging the involvement of employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). “Until today, no one has taken responsibility.”
Samerano said his family initially believed that the involvement of a United Nations agency would guarantee accountability. Instead, he encountered what he described as moral indifference. “It is a disgrace and a shame for the Western world, which knows how to criticize the State of Israel but remains silent in the face of the crimes of the United Nations and UNRWA,” he said. He added that his personal struggle had become inseparable from a broader demand for institutional change. “UNRWA, God willing, will no longer operate in Israel. I am working hard for that.” Turning directly to the question of funding, he issued a blunt appeal. “To the Western countries: If they truly care about the citizens of Gaza, they should stop the money.”
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The case has been taken up by Shurat HaDin–Israel Law Center, a privately funded legal organization that has spent more than two decades pursuing civil litigation against terror groups, their financiers, and entities accused of enabling them. Its president, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, explained during the briefing that the Samerano case was chosen precisely because it presents a narrow and concrete legal claim. “As we know, the UNRWA social worker kidnapped Yonatan’s body to Gaza,” she said. “There is a video of these two UNRWA employees with a UNRWA vehicle kidnapping Yonatan’s body to Gaza.” According to Darshan-Leitner, Samerano believed that once the UN was involved, corrective action would follow. “But not only did they not do anything,” she said, “they did not condemn it, and they did not take any steps against UNRWA.”
Beyond the specific UNRWA case, Darshan-Leitner described a far broader legal strategy aimed at cutting off terror financing at its source. Speaking with The Media Line, she said that after Oct. 7, Shurat HaDin expanded its legal offensive. “In order to block any funding for Hamas, after what happened on Oct. 7, we decided to sue everyone who were supporting Hamas and continue, has intention to continue to support Hamas,” she said. “We filed lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority, who gives $1 billion a year to Hamas. We filed lawsuits against Binance. We sued Iran. We sued the Qatari charity foundations. In addition, we sued UNRWA, the Red Cross, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Al Jazeera.”
Darshan-Leitner argued the issue is structural rather than rhetorical. “In Gaza, the entire strip is controlled by the Hamas government,” she said during the briefing. “There is no difference between the benevolent wing, the military wing, and the government wing. It’s all Hamas. So if you give money to one of the arms of Hamas, you actually support the military operations of Hamas.” That reasoning placed Qatar at the center of journalists’ questions, particularly in light of postwar reconstruction discussions.
There is absolutely no way to monitor the money going into this area
Asked whether funding could be monitored if Hamas remained in control, Darshan-Leitner dismissed the premise. “There is absolutely no way to monitor the money going into this area,” she said. “You cannot send supervisors. Even if there was a way to see that the money is not really going directly to the terror organizations, once Hamas still controls the Gaza Strip, all the taxes, all the customs, all the protection money will come to them.” Addressing Qatar’s potential role in Gaza’s future, she said Israel opposed its involvement. “If it’s up to Israel, no Qatar whatsoever,” she said, adding that the final decision would depend on international diplomacy. “In the end of the day, it will be up to President Donald Trump who will be part of this international force.”
We are winning judgments for billions of dollars. We go after everything that we can identify.
Darshan-Leitner described civil litigation as a substitute battlefield that she said has already reshaped financial behavior. “Hamas cannot use the banking system anymore in Gaza because of our lawsuits,” she said. “There is no bank in the Middle East that will operate in terrorist zones like Gaza or South Lebanon.” She detailed enforcement actions targeting bank accounts, real estate, vessels, and other assets. “We are winning judgments for billions of dollars. We go after everything that we can identify.”
As the briefing concluded, Samerano’s words lingered as a reminder of what drives the legal effort. “I am fighting alone against powerful international bodies,” he said. “I demand one thing: that they take responsibility.” Darshan-Leitner echoed that focus. “They are the players in this battle,” she said, referring to families like the Sameranos. “And we will continue until Israel wins.” The picture that emerged was of a conflict that did not end with a ceasefire, but instead moved into courtrooms worldwide, where law itself is being wielded as a weapon to expose responsibility, disrupt financing, and challenge institutions long shielded from accountability.