Palestinian Media Watch accused the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday of playing a significant role in the Palestinian Authority’s “pay for slay” program, saying ICRC visits to imprisoned Hamas terrorists enable them to start receiving monthly stipends from the P.A.
An Aug. 18 hearing at the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, on whether Red Cross representatives should be allowed to visit jailed members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force failed to address the fact that the P.A. uses the ICRC to confirm that prisoners are indeed in Israeli custody, PMW said.
“For years, we’ve been warning that Israel’s policy of allowing Red Cross visits to security prisoners has a direct consequence,” PMW Director Itamar Marcus said. “It enables payments to convicted terrorists.
“These payments are banned under Israeli law as they constitute financial support for terrorism,” the Israeli researcher said.
Marcus explained that ICRC confirmation allows terrorists to designate a bank account for payments by signing a power of attorney form, with the process explicitly detailed in Palestinian Authority decrees since 2010.
While the P.A. temporarily suspended the need for Red Cross follow-up visits following Israeli restrictions put in place in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Ramallah maintained its requirement for an initial visit to prevent fraudulent financial claims, Marcus said.
“As a result, allowing these visits effectively enables Hamas terrorists to start receiving their salaries,” Marcus continued, adding that the issue was not raised in the court hearing. He urged the government to bring this to the attention of the judiciary, stressing that facilitating such payments could place Jerusalem in violation of its own counter-terrorism laws.
PMW warned against the practice in December 2023, but the Red Cross has apparently continued to facilitate payments to terrorist prisoners.
Almost 1 billion shekels ($270 million) yearly goes toward the P.A.'s “pay for slay” policy, Israeli legal proceedings established last year.
P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Feb. 21 that he would not deduct a single penny from the prisoners and the “Martyrs’ Fund,” despite a Feb. 10 statement interpreted by some as ending the controversial policy.
“We again emphasize that we are proud of the sacrifices made by the martyrs, prisoners and wounded,” the P.A. chief declared in a speech.
“I told you once and I stand by my word: Even if we have [only] one penny left, it is for the prisoners and the martyrs,” Abbas continued, echoing previous remarks made during a 2018 address in Ramallah.
