•Updated
7:06
The Palestinian Authority officially announced the end of its Martyrs’ Fund in February this year. According to information obtained by Euronews, the mechanism Israel slams as “pay for slay” might still be operating through bypass channels.
In February, the Palestinian Authority announced the end of the programme to provide payments to families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel.
Known as the Martyrs’ Fund it guaranteed the Palestinians who are imprisoned by Israel – including those convicted for involvement in terror attacks — monthly “salaries” on a sliding scale depending on sentence length, with an additional stipend for their families, and grants available for things such as health insurance and education.
The programme had been criticised by the US, the EU and Israel as a mechanism “rewarding attacks” against Israel, which universally panned it as “pay for slay”.
Following years of criticism, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas revoked the old system in early 2025 as a token of goodwill towards the Trump administration and publicly reiterated that it was no longer in place in his remarks to the UN General Assembly in September.
However, Israel claims that the system is still working – and moreover, that it might involve EU funds in payments through “bypass channels”.
According to information obtained by Euronews, Israel’s delegation is in Brussels these days to present its evidence that the old “pay for slay” programme is still allegedly in effect and may involve money the 27-member bloc donated for other purposes.
Bypass channels of the reward programme
Since February when the programme officially ended the Palestinian Authority established a new mechanism called PNEEI – short for the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution.
This new centralised body is responsible for managing Palestinian social aid payments in accordance with, international welfare criteria, like income, employment and housing.
If a person’s application fulfils the socio-economic requirements, they get a basic payment of around €500 (1880 new sheqels).
According to information obtained by Euronews, the applicants also receive additional payments on top of that through bypass channels that are not reported or audited.
Same bypass channels are allegedly used for payments to those who have not applied, but are still being paid by various schemes also allegedly using the prisoners’ authority,“providing” their lists and giving them to the PNEEI and all the other channels.
Allegedly, Hamas members are included in the lists “automatically”, despite the Palestinian Authority (PA) denying that its financial support extends to Hamas and Islamic Jihad members.
According to information obtained by Euronews, families of Palestinians killed or injured in attacks against Israel and Israelis automatically get the basic payment without any need to meet the criteria. This practice has long been seen by Israel as rewarding and incentivising attacks on its country and its citizens.
When it comes to the released prisoners, those who are in Israel or in the Palestinian territories allegedly still get the payment as a “salary”.
At the same time, they are often registered on paper as employees of the PA or its Security Forces, where they can allegedly receive the salary “related to the results of the committed attack”.
The exiled prisoners and those who have to stay abroad allegedly receive payments for housing and rent on top of the monthly “salary”.
A significant portion of the programme’s budget allegedly comes from international aid, including EU funds.
What is the Palestinian Authority saying?
Earlier this month, Abbas fired his finance minister, Omar al-Bitar, according to the PA-run news agency Wafa.
While no official reason was provided for his dismissal, al-Bitar is said to have allowed “pay-for-slay” payments to continue, after the PA claimed the programme was scrapped in February.
Israeli outlets reported that al-Bitar authorised payments to some Palestinian security prisoners outside the new system that the PA established earlier this year, which conditioned those welfare stipends strictly on financial need, rather than on the length of one’s sentence.
Earlier in November Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar commented on the PA finance minister dismissal, saying the move “will not absolve the dismisser, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA of their complicity in pay-for-slay and responsibility for the ongoing payments to terrorists and their families”.
The EU is the biggest provider of external assistance to the Palestinians with a bilateral allocation amounting to some €1.36 billion between 2021 and 2024.
In April 2025 the EU unveiled a financial aid package of up to €1.6 billion to support the PA and fund projects in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
More than a third of this money, to be provided over two years, will come as direct budget support to the PA and is aimed at improving financial sustainability, democratic governance and services to help the private sector develop.
The aid is conditional on the PA implementing substantial democratic and governance reforms, including an end to Martyrs Fund payments.
Euronews has reached out to the Palestinian Authority and the European Commission for comment.
