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As New Unity Deal Is Signed, PA Recognition Makes 899 Gazans Eligible for Pay-for-Slay
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office
According to new data, 899 terrorists who were captured in the Gaza war have been recognized by the Palestinian Authority as prisoners (asra in Arabic = POWs), and 9,750 terrorists are now recognized by the PA as prisoners from PA-controlled areas [PA Commission of Detainees Affairs’ Facebook page, July 21, 2024].
This recognition is significant, because it means the PA considers them eligible for monthly terror reward salaries.
“The occupation’s [Israeli] Prison Service announced that 899 are imprisoned under the definition of ‘illegal fighter.’”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 16, 2024]
“Illegal fighter” is a term that the Israeli Prison Service uses to classify Gazan terrorists.
Salary calculations — new prisoners
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) calculates that once the processing of the new prisoners is complete, the PA will be paying a minimum of 59,560,000 shekels (about $16.4 million) a month in salaries to terrorist prisoners, up from 52,000,000 shekels (about $14.3 million) a month prior to October 7.
PMW last reported on January 10, 2024, that the PA had already recognized 661 terrorist prisoners from Gaza, and a total of 8,800 prisoners.
The WAFA report shows that among the thousands of terrorists arrested from Hamas-controlled Gaza, 238 have been recognized by the PA as prisoners since January, and the number of individuals that the PA recognizes as prisoners overall has increased by 950 since January.
The PA rewards terrorist prisoners with a salary of 1,400 shekels a month for the first three years in prison, and the salary gradually rises to 12,000 after 30 years.
The PA pays an additional 300 shekels a month for each wife, 50 shekels a month per child, 300 shekels a month extra for residents of Jerusalem, and 500 shekels a month extra for Israeli Arabs.
The number of imprisoned terrorists was around 4,300 prior to October 7. The additional monthly terror rewards come to at least an additional 7,630,000 shekels/month (over $2 million) that the PA will pay to terrorist prisoners under PA law (5,450 terrorists multiplied by 1,400 shekels).
In reality, the total PA payment for terrorist prisoners is far higher, because these sums only represent how much single prisoners with no children receive in their first year of incarceration. It does not include an accounting for how the salaries increase over time, or the additions for wives, children, and Israeli residency.
Payments to new Martyrs
The PA also counts 578 new Martyrs since October 7 in the areas under its control, and it recognizes the reports by the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza, which have listed 38,983 Martyrs since October 7 (in numbers that are totally unverified).
The families of the 578 new Martyrs from PA-controlled territory plus those of the 38,983 new Martyrs from Hamas-controlled territory are also all eligible to receive a one-time immediate grant of 6,000 shekels and a monthly allowance for life of 1,400 shekels. This makes for a one-time reward that would total 237,366,000 shekels (about $65.4 million) and a minimum of 54,576,200 shekels (about $15 million) per month, once the new Martyrs are processed. After the previous Gaza war with Hamas, it took the PA a number of years to process and start payments.
Even if the PA is unable to get payment to the families of the Gaza Martyrs right away, it will be registered as a debt, and PMW has shown that the PA does its best to pay the terror salaries as soon as possible.
In February 2024, PMW reported that the PA was so anxious to start rewarding newly arrested terrorists that it announced that it was bypassing its own regulations and processing requirements in order to be able to pay them immediately.
Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director, and Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to PMW. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post As New Unity Deal Is Signed, PA Recognition Makes 899 Gazans Eligible for Pay-for-Slay first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.