Despite Pledge to End ‘Pay-for-Slay,’ Ramallah Hides Millions in Terror Stipends

Jerusalem, 8 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Despite Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement that he would cancel controversial “pay-for-slay” stipends, a new report released on Sunday accuses Ramallah of secretly funneling an estimated $315 million annually to more than 23,000 released prisoners and the families of those killed while committing attacks against Israelis.

The report, by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), claims the PA has been concealing these payments since 2021 by disguising recipients as civil servants, security force personnel, and pensioners — the very categories Western donors thought they were safely funding to avoid supporting terrorism.

“Pay-for-Slay” refers to the PA’s longstanding policy of providing monthly stipends to Palestinians imprisoned for attacks against Israelis, with payments increasing based on the severity of the crime and length of sentence. The program also provides salaries to families of those killed while carrying out attacks, whom the PA calls “Martyrs.”

According to the report’s author, Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, the deception began after his organization exposed in 2020 that approximately 7,500 released terrorist prisoners were receiving PA salaries without working. “Europe, the US, and Israel” condemned the payments made “because they killed,” the report states, quoting PA officials from that period.

In early 2021, Abbas responded with a presidential decree to integrate these recipients into government jobs and pension programs. The PA created a committee of more than 60 people “working even on vacation days” to hide the recipients as quickly as possible, according to PA officials quoted in the report.

Marcus explained to The Press Service of Israel that the hidden payments fall into two categories.

“In 2021, the PA moved nearly 8,000 terror-payment files for prisoners in the PA areas into ‘civil service,’ ‘military,’ and ‘pension’ frameworks — explicitly to keep the US and Europe from seeing the rewards as terror salaries,” he said. That number has since grown to more than 10,000, he estimates, with monthly payments typically ranging from NIS 4,000-12,000 [$1,285-$3,857].

The report also documents a second group: 13,500 recipients living in the “diaspora” outside PA-controlled areas. Marcus said PMW received confirmation these individuals “received their full salaries last month via PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] embassies.”

Leaked Discussions: ‘Matters Will Be Resolved’

The most damning evidence comes from transcribed conversations among Pay-for-Slay recipients obtained by PMW in early 2026. One conversation reveals the PA is expanding the program by disguising 6,000 additional “wounded and prisoners” as pensioners in government offices. “They are calling them one by one, asking them for bank account numbers to confirm them as pensioners,” according to the transcript.

Another recording features a released prisoner describing a visit to the PA Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, where officials told him “there are currently salaries for those who served five years” and assured him “Allah willing, from now on the matters will be resolved.”

Marcus told TPS-IL that he has “reliable sources that we follow on social media and other places,” but declined to reveal identities “to protect the people.”

The irony, the report suggests, is that Western donors attempting to avoid funding terrorism have been doing exactly that. The European Union, Germany, France, and the United States have all provided funding specifically designated for PA salaries, pensions, and security forces — the very frameworks where the PA embedded its terror payments.

Marcus said he assumes the hidden program “is almost universally known among Palestinians” because released prisoners “are such high priority and leave prison as national heroes. They are in every town and village. Everyone is aware of this from their relatives, neighbors, and friends.”

When asked what donors should do, Marcus was unequivocal. “Instead of trying to be careful that their particular Euro or dollar does not go to fund a terrorist, they should be announcing that any government or NGO or administration that uses any part of its budget to fund terrorism is ineligible to receive any funding,” he told TPS-IL. “That’s not only the pragmatic thing to do — it’s the only ethical thing to do.”

The report concludes with a quote from Abbas himself, explaining why prisoners and martyrs “must receive everything as it was in the past”: “They are more precious than all of us.”

The Palestinian Authority allocates seven percent of its annual budget for its so-called “Martyr’s Fund,” which provides the stipends. The size of the monthly payouts is primarily determined by the duration of the terrorist’s incarceration, with a negligible additional factor based on family size. PA salaries to security prisoners in Israeli prisons range from $400-3,400 per month, depending on the sentence. Those who participated in terror attacks killing Israelis — thus receiving the most severe sentences — receive the highest payouts.

For comparison, PA welfare benefits to ordinary Palestinians range from $60-170 per month depending on need.

Israeli officials say the stipends provide incentives for terror and regularly offset an equivalent amount from taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the PA.