Heeding US demand, PA releases audit that purportedly found new welfare program ended ‘pay-to-slay’

The Palestinian Authority-linked body that manages Ramallah’s new welfare program has released the summary of an independent audit that determined that the system is not incentivizing recipients involved in attacks against Israel.

The PA announced last week what it said were the results of the Alvarez & Marsal audit, maintaining that it was further proof that it had properly implemented a reform to end a scheme that critics dubbed “pay-to-slay” because stipends were given to prisoners, including attackers, based on the length of their sentence.

Last year, the PA announced a new system under which welfare recipients would be compensated strictly according to their financial status.

As Israel and the US continued casting doubt on the program, Ramallah commissioned A&M to conduct an audit of the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI) that is responsible for divvying out welfare payments under the new system.

But the US State Department indicated that it still wasn’t satisfied with the PA announcement, calling on Ramallah to release the audit itself.

PNEEI complied and has released the audit’s summary section, while the PA has started sharing the remainder of the largely technical document in closed-door meetings, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

The A&M summary states that its audit determined that PNEEI’s welfare project is indeed based on recipients’ financial status and that no evidence was found showing that eligibility or payments are based on a relative’s status as a prisoner or “martyr.”

The audit identified one round of illicit payments under the previous system that was made in November 2025, but the PA had told auditors that those were for previously accrued obligations before the February 2025 reform was announced. PA President Mahmoud Abbas also fired his finance minister for those payments. The audit said additional documentation is still needed to independently verify that the old payment mechanisms have been permanently shut down.

Overall, the auditors concluded that the reform has largely succeeded in separating the new cash assistance program from the previous prisoner payment system, but they recommended stronger documentation, automation and financial controls to ensure the separation remains permanent.