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The controversial United Nations aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize — even as some of its staffers are accused of killing and kidnapping Israelis on Oct. 7.

Norwegian Labor MP Asmund Aukrust told a local newspaper Thursday that he nominated the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) “for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general.

“This work has been crucial for over 70 years and even more vital in the last three months,” said Auskrust, who also serves as vice chairman of the Norwegian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

The nomination for the iconic award comes as Norwegian officials are trying to persuade Western allies to reconsider their decision to cut funding to the agency over an Israeli dossier that surfaced last week describing how a dozen UNRWA employees — including several teachers — participated in the Hamas massacre in October.

Some of the staffers allegedly doubling as terrorists kidnapped and killed people, the Israeli damning probe said.

About 1,200 UNRWA workers are known to have links to the terrorist organization, the dossier claimed.


  The under-fire United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize “for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general,” according to the official pushing the move. REUTERS The under-fire United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize “for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general,” according to the official pushing the move. REUTERS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the dossier’s findings “highly, highly credible.”

“Personally, I think engaging in rape, murder, torture, executions and kidnapping should disqualify you from a Nobel Peace Prize — but I am SO old fashioned,” screenwriter Lee Kern posted on X in response to UNRWA’s nomination.

Danny Danon, Israel’s representative to the UN, also slammed the move.

“Why stop there? Why not extend the same offer to Hamas?” he asked sarcastically.

A Jewish banker from Miami echoed the sentiments, saying: “What is the next step? A statue of Bin Laden at the entrance of the UN building in NY?”

The US was the first to cut funding to the UNRWA after the accusations surfaced last week.

“The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that 12 UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” the State Department said in a statement. 

Other nations including Canada, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom and Finland soon followed suit.

But advocates for the group say it provides necessary aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, many of whom are facing hunger and disease as the war continues to rage.


  Executive director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer testifies before Congress earlier this week on Israel’s damning dossier against UNRWA, noting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it ”highly, highly credible.” Getty Images Executive director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer testifies before Congress earlier this week on Israel’s damning dossier against UNRWA, noting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it ”highly, highly credible.” Getty Images

The United Nations has said a suspension of aid by major donors could jeopardize UNRWA’s work within weeks, and Martin Griffiths, the top UN humanitarian official, told the international body’s Security Council on Wednesday that its operations in Gaza are “completely dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational.”

He said that withholding funding for the “alleged actions of a few individuals is a matter of extraordinarily disproportion.”

Griffiths’ remarks were echoed by Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, who said the approach “amounts, in a sense, to a collective punishment of millions of Palestinians,” according to the New York Times.


  Weapons were found stashed at three UNRWA-run schools in 2014. REUTERS Weapons were found stashed at three UNRWA-run schools in 2014. REUTERS

But support for the aid agency among lawmakers in the United States remains low, with Congress considering several measures to suspend a total of more than $1 billion in funding for the group.

On Thursday, a coalition of 26 state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle calling for the federal government to permanently halt all American financial aid to UNRWA.

“It is time for Congress to stop funding this organization that rapes, murders and kidnaps innocents — and that has shown it has no willingness, desire or capacity to stick to humanitarian aid and away from supporting antisemitism and terrorism,” the group wrote in the letter, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“There is no reason to fund organizations that support terrorist operations,” the statement said. “It is abundantly clear, and has been for some time, that UNRWA does just that.”


  Advocates for UNRWA say it provides necessary aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, many of whom are facing hunger and disease as the war continues to rage. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Advocates for UNRWA say it provides necessary aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, many of whom are facing hunger and disease as the war continues to rage. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Since the Palestinian terror group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, UNRWA leaders trying to enforce a sense of neutrality in the conflict have faced threats and attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A one-time official who oversaw the previous firing of UNRWA employees with suspected links to Hamas and the removal of weapons from schools received a box full of grenades, prompting him to leave the area in 2015.

The year before he left, weapons were found at three UNRWA-run schools, and some had gone missing, according to the Journal.

It is also believed that several of the UNRWA schools are hiding tunnels where Hamas officials may be keeping hostages.


  Several Western nations, including the United States, have cut off funding for the group. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock Several Western nations, including the United States, have cut off funding for the group. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock

The UN is investigating reports that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’ brutal invasion of Israel and has fired most of the 12 who were accused. 

Two of the staffers named in the Israeli dossier have been killed in the war.

An investigation into the claims may take up to four weeks, according to the Times.

With Post wires

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