A member of the Norwegian Parliament said Thursday that he nominated the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for the Nobel Peace Prize, days after Israel alleged the organization has terrorist links and that some of the agency's employees participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks.
"They have been the most important humanitarian organization in Gaza for decades—and now they are the lifeline for millions of Palestinians," MP Åsmund Aukrust said of the agency on X, formerly Twitter.
The announcement came after Israeli intelligence claimed at least 12 UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks, leading several countries, including the United States, to suspend funding to the group, the U.N.'s main aid body for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
"It is extremely important that all allegations are investigated," Aukrust told a Norwegian outlet. "If it comes to the conclusion that representatives of UNRWA have contributed to terrorism, it is completely unacceptable and must be punished."
"But UNRWA has 30,000 employees," Aukrust added. "The fact that 12 out of 30,000 have done this does not justify that the others should not be allowed to do this vital work."
Aukrust did not address the findings of Israeli intelligence that alleged 10 percent of UNRWA's 12,000 employees were Hamas "operatives," which the Jewish state released to the Wall Street Journal late last month. Those findings, in addition to the accusations about the 12 employees' role in the attacks, were part of the briefing that led the United States and its allies to cut off UNRWA's funding.
UNRWA's nomination does not mean that the Nobel Committee has recognized the agency, as the committee receives hundreds of nominations for consideration each year from the pool of thousands across the globe who are eligible to submit them, according to the Times of Israel and Agence France-Presse. The committee keeps the details of nominations secret for 50 years, but nominators are allowed to reveal whom they have proposed for the award.
Aukrust's recognition of UNRWA comes as Republicans in the United States have urged the federal government not to give another penny to the organization. GOP House members introduced legislation Thursday to prevent President Joe Biden's administration from ending the temporary pause on funding it issued last week. The same day, 26 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders of both parties asking Congress to end all funding to UNRWA.