The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), at the center of a controversy over the alleged involvement of some of its workers in the October 7 attack on Israel, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, a Norwegian lawmaker announced today..

Labor MP Osmund Oakhurst said in Dagbladet newspaper that he submitted Unrwa’s candidacy “for its long-term work aimed at providing vital support to Palestine and the region in general.”

“This work has been critical for more than 70 years and even more so in the last three months,” said the MP, who is also vice-chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Unrwa has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 30,000 workers in the region for involvement in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that killed 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally.

In response, at least 12 countries, including major donors such as the US, Germany, Britain and Sweden but not Norway, announced they were suspending funding to the agency, which said today it was facing the threat of will need to cease operations “by the end of February”.

Nominating a person or organization for the Nobel Peace Prize is not in itself a form of recognition by the Nobel Committee, which receives hundreds of nominations each year.

Tens of thousands of people (parliamentarians and ministers from all countries, former laureates, some academics, etc.) have the opportunity to propose a name before the deadline of 31 January.

Although the list of candidates has remained secret for half a century, supporters can publicly reveal the identity of their chosen person.

Other known candidates relate to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which is behind the October 7 attack, to which the Jewish state responded with military operations against the Gaza Strip that have killed 27,019 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

Among them, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which last month called on Israel to prevent any possible “genocide” in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to enter, as well as rights groups Palestinian Al-Haq and Israeli B ‘Tselem.

Other names published by media: former US President Donald Trump, who wants to return to the White House this year, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, the UN Refugee Agency, Pope Francis, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and the NGO Reporters Without Borders.

The Nobel committee will announce its decision in early October.