Palestinian Authority paid over $200M to terrorists in 2025 despite ending program: report

The State Department found that the Palestinian Authority paid over $200 million to terrorists and their families in 2025 despite supposedly ending the program, according to a report.Last year, PA President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that he ended the “pay-to-slay” program, but according to a nonpublic notice provided by the department to Congress, the PA shifted to a new system of payment, the Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday.
Israeli intelligence determined that the PA funneled $144 million to terrorists and their families in 2024 and committed at least $214 million through 2025, and the State Department found that the payments continued from March to August 2025 under a purportedly reformed welfare system.
“The old Palestinian system of compensation for Palestinian terrorists and the families of terrorists killed in the course of committing such acts of terrorism gradually transferred responsibility for compensation to the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment (PNEEI) under the guise of social welfare,” the State Department wrote. “Despite changing the mechanism for doing so, the PA continued the payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families during the reporting period.”
The notice comes as the Trump administration works on implementing the second phase of its Gaza peace plan, which bars Abbas’s government from participating in postwar programs until it undergoes reforms, including ending pay-to-slay. While the PA does not have a formal role, the head of the newly created National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, civil engineer Ali Shaath, has held senior roles in the PA.
The Trump administration found that the PA used post offices, social media platforms, and encrypted messaging apps to alert aid recipients that cash was available under the newly branded pay-to-slay program, “indicating clearly that compensation in support of terrorism has continued,” according to the department notice.
Last February, Abbas ordered an end to the program, saying that welfare would be provided to Palestinians based solely on need, rather than the number of years their relatives have been imprisoned in Israel for terrorism. But weeks later, Abbas promised the Fatah Revolutionary Council that “even if we only have one cent left, it will be for the prisoners and martyrs.”
“A shift to a potential welfare system without ending specific payments and benefits for Palestinian terrorists and their families is not compliant with the provisions under the Taylor Force Act,” the State Department wrote, referring to a 2018 law that froze U.S. aid to the PA until it ended pay-to-slay. “The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through a new mechanism under a different name.”
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli nonprofit group, reported on Monday, “The payments now appear to be continuing in areas believed to be beyond direct donor oversight, including Jordan and Lebanon. While the PA has clearly not yet determined how to do so in the PA areas without attracting international scrutiny, an official from Fatah, the PA’s ruling party, revealed earlier this month that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has indicated his intent to maintain payments to all recipients.”

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