The tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands is taking on the world’s nuclear powers in an unparalleled lawsuit. The lawsuit, which was filed against Israel, the United States, and seven other nuclear-armed countries, accuses them of “flagrant violations” of international law and demands that they meet promises made toward disarmament.

The Marshall Islands were used extensively after World War II by US nuclear scientists as a testing ground for nuclear weapons between 1946 and 1958. One of the most extreme tests carried out was of the “Bravo shot,” a 15-megaton nuclear bomb equivalent to a thousand Hiroshima blasts. One of 67 nuclear testing sites used by the US, the Marshall Islands suffer from numerous environmental and health problems.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The countries being sued include Russia, France, China, Britain, Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea and the United States.

While Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea are non members of the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the lawsuit argues that these countries are legally bound under “customary international law.” The lawsuit wants The Hague to force nuclear powers to disarm.

A second lawsuit was also filed in San Francisco in US federal court against President Barack Obama, the departments and secretaries of energy and defense, and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Israel has never confirmed that it does possess nuclear weapons, maintaining a policy of nuclear ambiguity.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said that he was unaware of the lawsuit. He further added that the lawsuit “doesn’t sound relevant because we are not members of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.”

“It sounds like it doesn’t have any legal legs,” Hirschson commented.

None of the countries being sued were given advance notice. “Our people have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever again experience these atrocities,” Tony de Brum, foreign minister of the Marshall Islands said in a statement.

Prominent world figures are rallying behind the lawsuit. Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said, “We must ask why these leaders continue to break their promises and put their citizens and the world at risk of horrific devastation.”