In the northern hills of the West Bank, the Jenin Brigades—an alliance of Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, Hamas operatives, and breakaway factions from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades—have transformed refugee camps into launchpads for shootings, bombings, and ambushes. These attacks are not spontaneous eruptions of rage. They are the predictable output of a sophisticated terror-finance apparatus that funnels Iranian cash through Palestinian banks, diverts Israeli-collected tax revenues, and exploits global enablers. This system is Tehran’s low-cost lever to stretch Israeli defenses, hollow out the Palestinian Authority, and torpedo any path toward regional normalization.
Palestinian banks sit at the center of this artery. The Palestinian Monetary Authority supervises institutions holding roughly 24 billion dollars in total assets as of today, with the Bank of Palestine alone reporting 10.7 billion dollars. These banks process the overwhelming majority of Israeli shekel transactions in an economy with no sovereign currency of its own. They depend on correspondent relationships with Israeli banks such as Bank Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank to clear daily payments and maintain liquidity.
Yet this same infrastructure also distributes payments from the Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs Fund and Prisoners Fund.
Yet this same infrastructure also distributes payments from the Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs Fund and Prisoners Fund. In 2025, the Palestinian Authority transferred approximately 500 million shekels—roughly 156 million dollars—to convicted terrorists and the families of those killed carrying out attacks. Of that sum, 395 million shekels went to prisoners and 92 million shekels to the families of dead attackers.
The State of Israel collects between 600 million and 800 million shekels monthly in tax clearances on behalf of the Palestinian Authority—accounting for roughly 60 percent of its budget—and has deducted a cumulative total exceeding 4 billion shekels precisely because of these terror stipends. Monthly deductions averaged more than 460 million shekels during the first half of 2025, with full halts triggering salary cuts to 50 percent and sparking street unrest that Hamas and its allies readily exploit. The Jenin Brigades benefit directly.
Iranian funds flow to local commanders through cutouts and money-exchange houses that Palestinian banks unwittingly—or unavoidably—serve to. Israeli forces have repeatedly dismantled cells using student credit cards and zakat committees to move cash. Pre-war Hamas revenue exceeded 1 billion dollars annually, including 360 million dollars from Gaza taxes and between 100 million and 350 million dollars from Iran. Tens of millions of those dollars ultimately crossed into the West Bank to arm terrorists and finance stipends that keep the pipeline alive even after major Israeli operations.
The cynicism is staggering. Israel transfers tax revenues to sustain basic Palestinian Authority governance, only to watch a portion cycle directly back as salaries for terrorists targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians. When deductions bite, the Palestinian Authority slashes public wages, fueling the chaos the Jenin Brigades exploit.
This dynamic deliberately erodes the last remnants of Palestinian Authority control in Area A cities, creating precisely the security vacuums Iranian-backed militias seek to exploit. Four Israeli battalions remain tied down in the West Bank while Tehran advances its axis-of-resistance doctrine at minimal cost—no Iranian boots, no direct missile exchanges, just calibrated chaos designed to obstruct any credible day-after plan for Gaza and derail normalization agreements with Saudi Arabia or Gulf states demanding Palestinian stability.
International capital provides both cover and scale. Palestinian-American businessman Bashar Masri faces a civil lawsuit filed in April 2025 by families representing more than 200 American victims of the October 7, 2023 butchering. Court documents allege that his companies’ Gaza properties—including hotels and the Gaza Industrial Estate—were used to conceal Hamas tunnels, siphon electricity to terrorist infrastructure, and host senior Hamas figures. Masri denies the allegations. However, the case illustrates how diaspora investment and Western-backed development projects can be repurposed into the same financial ecosystem that ultimately reaches accounts in Jenin.
The cycle of funding, attacks, and reprisals will deepen, rewarding terror while punishing moderation. Tehran understands this arithmetic perfectly.
Iran’s strategy is coldly geostrategic. By sustaining this West Bank front through Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad networks, Tehran forces Israel to fight simultaneously across multiple fronts, drains resources that could otherwise consolidate gains in Gaza, and keeps the Palestinian issue politically radioactive enough to sabotage broader Arab-Israeli alignment. Palestinian banks, trapped between regulatory pressure and dependence on Israeli clearing mechanisms, risk a ‘de-risking’ spiral that could crater the 19 billion dollar West Bank economy if terror links become too explicit.
Yet the money continues to flow because the incentives remain aligned: the Palestinian Authority rewards violence to preserve street credibility, Iran pays pennies on the dollar for strategic dividends, and Western scrutiny remains sporadic and episodic.
This is not grassroots resistance. It is a calculated, bankrolled campaign that weaponizes formal banking channels, Israeli tax mechanisms, and overseas business networks to sustain militancy. Israeli raids in Jenin continue because the financial arteries remain open.
Ergo, until correspondent oversight tightens, targeted sanctions hit exchange houses, and clearance revenues face ironclad conditionality, the West Bank will remain a theater of managed insurgency. The cycle of funding, attacks, and reprisals will deepen, rewarding terror while punishing moderation. Tehran understands this arithmetic perfectly.
Published originally on May 14, 2026.
