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The palm is more powerful than the fist, and once it has made contact, the fingers are there to seize and rip and tear. Take an early man's use of his bare hands as daily tools especially digging tools for roots, tubers, etc. and you have dextrous and tough digits that are very weaponized. Tiger Kung Fu practicioners strive to recreate this hand development by driving their hands and fingers into gravel, pushups on their fingertips, seizing canvas bags full of chains and tossing them in the air using their fingertips, etc. I once had a discussion with a University of Wyoming student who thought early man couldn't have processed meat before he had mastered toolmaking, and I countered that early man had much stronger fingers from daily use than I, and after using my teeth to make an initial hole in the hide, I could field dress, section and butcher out an antelope carcass with my fingers.

In addition, when primates strike with their "hands", it's also with the palm heel as the point of blunt contact, then once contact is made, the fingers to seize and tear. I refer to the unfortunate incidents where chimps seem to go for tearing people's faces off.

Psalm 144: "Blessed be the LORD my Strength; Who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."

I studied Yi Li Chuan kung fu for a number of years and we learned what they called a “dragon” or “two-point” fist. The strike was with the first knuckles of the index and middle fingers with the fist loosely held and the knuckles in line with the forearm. But this was an internal style and we were told that it was not the force of the blow that mattered but the concentration of “chi” at the instant of contact. The palm was considered more effective as a striking instrument, for the reasons you describe. Although Yi Li was not about grabbing and holding.