The cease-fire in Gaza broke down at least temporarily in mid-October as Hamas killed two Israeli soldiers in the south of the territory and Israel responded with dozens of air strikes. Expect more such episodes unless Hamas disarms, which it may never do.

Meanwhile, we learn more each day about the suffering of the Israeli hostages freed from Hamas in Gaza. Matan Angrest was beaten until he lost consciousness. Rom Braslavski was whipped, beaten and offered food to convert to Islam. Avinatan Or was handcuffed and starved in a small cage, held alone for two years.

We should not lose sight, however, of the other side of the split screen. The terrorists released by Israel as part of its ransom payment to Hamas returned to widespread celebrations across the Palestinian territories–and fat bank accounts too.

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli NGO, tracks the Palestinian Authority’s “pay for slay” program. It finds that the 250 released Palestinians who had been serving life sentences received at least 229 million shekels, or nearly $70 million, while serving time for terrorism.

Many of the murderers will leave prison as shekel-millionaires. The money comes from Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, whose nonstate is now recognized by France, the U.K., Canada and Australia. The PA receives substantial budget assistance from the European Union as well as U.S. funds for its security forces.

The incentive structure is backward. Western taxpayer dollars enrich Palestinian killers, who know they have a decent chance of being sprung whenever Hamas next seizes hostages.

Some of the released terrorists have killed Americans. Iyad Fatafteh, for example, was one of two Palestinian men who stabbed to death Kristine Luken, an American who came to Israel for the Christmas holiday in 2010. Mr. Fatafteh confessed to the crime and his DNA was found as implicating evidence. He also attacked Luken’s friend Kay Wilson, who was stabbed 13 times but miraculously survived.

The same PA that pleads poverty to Western state donors has paid Mr. Fatafteh more than $200,000 for a job brutally done. He is now free again, along with other terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

Israel has never employed the death penalty for terrorists, but doing so had been a campaign issue before the war for hard-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir. Now, in the Trump deal’s aftermath, Jerusalem is considering it. The PA pays these terrorists, but when hostages are taken, Israel is pressed to foot the bill.

— Wall Street Journal