Five families of victims of recent terror attacks in Israel who had US citizenship have brought a lawsuit against Facebook in a New York court.

Taylor Force, Menachem Mendel Rivkin, Richard Leikin, Chaya Zisel Braun and Yaakov Naftali Frankel were all killed by Palestinian terrorists between 2014 and 2016.

Their relatives are suing Facebook for damages, claiming that the social media titan consciously aided terrorists spreading anti-Israel incitement.

Although Facebook has been the target of lawsuits before, the $1 billion figure is unprecedented.

Shurat HaDin, the Tel-Aviv based law centre, filed the suit on behalf of the families. Nitsana Darshan Leitner, Director of Shurat HaDin, had harsh words for Facebook, saying that the company “can’t barricade itself in its ivory tower while the blood of Jews is being spilled on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“It has to take responsibility to neutralise this incitement. It has the tools to do this and it has the obligation to do this.”

Responding on behalf of Facebook, an Israeli PR firm said that the firm “does not respond on any issue currently subject to legal procedure".