Pressures on the Palestinian Authority, instigated by Israel at this time, to push the Trump administration to punish the PA and prevent it from participating in the governance of the Gaza Strip

The Washington Free Beacon exclusively reports:

The U.S. State Department informed Congress that the Palestinian Authority gave prisoners more than $200 million in "pay-to-slay" payments after "canceling" the program.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his government would no longer pay money to prisoners and their families, as part of an agreement with the Biden administration.

The U.S. State Department officially announced this month that the Palestinian Authority paid more than $200 million to prisoners and their families in 2025, the same year PA President Mahmoud Abbas claimed to have ended the "pay-to-slay" program, according to a non-public notice submitted to Congress and exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Instead of ending these payments, the Palestinian Authority resorted to a new system that it hoped to conceal from international donors, at a time when the Ramallah government seeks to play a role in post-war Gaza, as revealed for the first time by the U.S. State Department. Israeli intelligence estimated that the Palestinian Authority transferred $144 million to prisoners and their families in 2024, and committed to providing at least $214 million until 2025, while the State Department concluded that payments continued from March to August 2025 under a social welfare system allegedly reformist.

The U.S. State Department concluded that "the old Palestinian system of compensating Palestinian terrorists and their families who were killed while committing terrorist acts gradually transferred the responsibility for compensation to the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI) under the guise of social welfare. Despite the change in mechanism, the Palestinian Authority continued to disburse payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families during the reporting period."

These findings are likely to further erode the Palestinian Authority's standing with the Trump administration, at a time when the latter is seeking to implement the second phase of the Gaza peace plan, which prevents Abbas's government from participating in post-war programs until it undergoes a series of reforms, including ending the pay-to-slay policy. Although the Palestinian Authority has no official role on paper, the head of the newly established National Committee for Gaza Administration, civil engineer Ali Shaath, has held senior positions in the Palestinian Authority, indicating the potential for Abbas's government to wield hidden influence.

The Trump administration gathered evidence that the Palestinian Authority used post offices, social media platforms, and encrypted messaging services like Telegram to alert aid recipients that cash was available under the newly named "pay-to-slay" program, "clearly indicating the continued provision of compensation to support terrorism," according to the State Department notice.

Abbas made international headlines in February 2025 when he ordered an end to the "pay-to-slay" program, stating that social assistance would be provided to Palestinians based solely on their needs, not on the number of years their relatives were imprisoned in Israel for terrorism. But Abbas questioned this decision a few weeks later, when he promised the Fatah Revolutionary Council, saying: "Even if we have only one cent left, it will be for the prisoners and martyrs."

While the new system implemented by a government agency controlled by Abbas was portrayed as a major social welfare reform project, the State Department concluded that it essentially operates in the same way as the old system by rewarding terrorists and their families for violence.

The U.S. State Department wrote: "The shift to a potential social welfare system without ending specific payments and benefits to Palestinian terrorists and their families is inconsistent with the provisions of the Taylor Force Act," referring to a 2018 law that froze U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority until it stopped pay-to-slay payments. It added: "The Palestinian Authority continues to provide a compensation system to support terrorism through a new mechanism under a different name."

The U.S. State Department also confirmed that the Palestinian Authority continues to issue laws obligating monthly compensation to terrorists and their families. One such law, known as Law No. 14, states that the Palestinian Authority "is obligated to support terrorists while they are held in Israeli prisons by paying the equivalent of their last monthly salaries before their imprisonment," according to the notice.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli non-profit organization, reported on Monday that the Palestinian Authority disbursed a new payment of "terror allowances" to beneficiaries residing in Jordan. The organization collected direct testimonies and bank notices showing that "the transferred amounts were identical to those previously received, indicating that the payment schedule had not changed."

The Palestinian Authority has historically paid compensation to imprisoned terrorists according to a tiered schedule, with those serving long sentences receiving over $3,000 per month. The Free Beacon reported in October that nearly $70 million was distributed to 250 Palestinian prisoners released that month under a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The policy monitoring organization wrote: "Payments now appear to be continuing in areas believed to be outside the direct control of donors, including Jordan and Lebanon. While the Palestinian Authority has not yet determined how to do this in its territories without attracting international attention, an official from Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority, revealed earlier this month that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had indicated his intention to continue disbursing payments to all beneficiaries."

Abbas's pledge to end the program in 2025 was the result of intensive diplomatic efforts by Hady Amr, the representative for Palestinian affairs in the Biden-Harris administration, according to Axios, which reported that the two sides negotiated the agreement for two years before it was announced in February of last year.

Evidence of continued pay-to-slay payments under a new name is likely to serve as a wake-up call for the Trump administration, as it pressures the Palestinian Authority to eradicate extremism before taking on a role in post-war Gaza.

A Republican congressional staffer working on Gaza issues told the Free Beacon: "Abbas and the Palestinians are more committed to terrorism than to fulfilling their promises to President Trump, even as the administration asks them for help in rebuilding and managing Gaza. They are still paying terrorists, inciting violence, and refusing to disarm Hamas."