Israeli media reported Wednesday that a Sunday cabinet meeting revealed that the Palestinian Authority had paid out nearly half a billion shekels to terrorists and their families under its infamous “pay for slay” program. Terrorists get paid four times the average salary of Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and in order to maintain those high salaries, the PA cut the salaries of its own employees, including doctors, nurses and teachers.

The meeting disclosed that nearly 400,000 shekels were paid to terrorists currently in prison, while nearly 100,000 shekels were paid to families of terrorists who had been eliminated.

President Donald Trump had threatened to impose sanctions on high-ranking PA officials if the PA continued its “pay for slay” program, which it calls the Martyrs Fund. PA President Mahmoud Abbas fired the finance minister who authorized the payments, then hired another one who continued to pay out the stipends unabated.

During the cabinet meeting, Minister Avi Dichter said, “All the Palestinian Authority’s theatrics will not help. Abu Mazen [the nickname for Abbas] himself has said that the Authority will continue paying terrorists’ families down to the last shekel.”

“Just as Mordechai exposed Haman as a foe and enemy before Ahasuerus, and the great challenge was convincing Ahasuerus, Netanyahu must convince President Trump that Abu Mazen is a foe and enemy,” Minister Orit Strock added.

Last week in a blistering speech to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the PA for its “pay for slay” program and confronted the U.N. for its silence on the issue.

“The U.S. State Department reported to Congress that the P.A. committed to paying over $200 million in salaries to terrorists in 2025 alone — significantly more than 2024,” he said. “A few months ago, Abbas dismissed his finance minister to shift the blame for pay-for-slay on him.”

“But their new finance minister admitted a week ago that pay-for-slay will continue despite their financial difficulties,” he added.

“But you don’t say a word about it, do you,” he said.

Despite increasing international calls to end the program and despite Israel freezing PA tax revenue, the PA remains undaunted. It even included the program in its draft constitution for a Palestinian state.

Earlier this month, Israel’s Finance Ministry demanded that the Bank of Palestine shut down nearly 3,500 accounts it believes are used in the infamous “pay for slay” program that pays monthly stipends to families of terrorists who have been involved in killing Jews — with larger payouts tied to higher body counts. The bank refused to comply.

A few months earlier, the bank had agreed to close some 1,700 accounts, but this time, in response to a clear directive from Israel, the bank refused to cooperate, claiming that it was “unable to act.” Israeli authorities believe that the bank is acting under orders from the PA not to cooperate.

Israel warned the Bank of Palestine that failure to comply would result in serious enforcement action taken by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — namely, the termination of Israeli banks serving as correspondent banks for the Bank of Palestine, a service that allows the bank to send and receive money internationally. Because the Bank of Palestine does not have overseas branches, it cannot otherwise conduct international transactions.

At Sunday’s meeting, Israeli officials said that the figures presented are based on confirmed payments, but they suspect that other undisclosed funds transferred through various channels would raise the “pay for slay” amount even more.