An armed Hamas convoy drives through Gaza. Photo: Ma’an News Agency.

Hamas has been ordered to pay 38 million shekels ($9.34 million) in compensation to the families of the three Israeli teenage boys who were kidnapped and murdered by the terrorist group in 2014, according to an Israeli court ruling.

The three Israeli teenagers — Naftali Fraenkel, 16; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Eyal Yifrach, 19 — were abducted by Hamas terrorists on the night of June 12, 2014 while hitchhiking near the West Bank south of Jerusalem. The bodies of the three boys were found near Hebron on June 30, 2014 after an 18-day manhunt. It was determined that they had been murdered shortly after the kidnapping.

According to the Jerusalem District Court ruling cited by N12, “The head of the terrorist squad in the attack, Hussam Qawasmeh, admitted in his interrogation that he was the mastermind behind the abduction and murder, and even obtained funding for the attack from Hamas. He bought weapons for the purpose of the attack, transferred them to another terrorist in the squad, and purchased a vehicle for them to carry out the operation.”

The families of the victims, who had filed a lawsuit seeking 520 million shekels back in August 2020, have announced that they will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Shurat HaDin, the legal group representing the families of the victims, stated that the objective of the lawsuit was to prevent the Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers the West Bank, from funneling money to Hamas.

“This lawsuit, of course, does not cure our pain, reduce our grief, or minimize our longing for our children. If the lawsuit has the power to deter even slightly these evil forces, it would be a victory,” the bereaved families said when the lawsuit was first filed.

In response to the court’s decision, Shurat HaDin attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner commented in a tweet: “A ruling granting a tenth of the amount of the compensation claim will fatally harm Israeli deterrence and measures to eradicate terrorism through economic means. We need legislation which will determine the amount of punitive damages to terrorist victims, who will receive what they deserve, and thus force terrorist organizations to think twice before they pay [terrorists] for their actions.”