Two United States congressman on Thursday accused a United Nations agency that gives relief to Palestinians of allegedly distributing funds to members of terrorist organizations.

Representatives Steve Rothman (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) lambasted the United Nations Relief Works Agency for allegedly appropriating money to employ members of Hamas and for distributing funds to Palestinian refugees with connections to terrorist groups.

In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the congressman called for "stricter oversight" of the more than $100 million in U.S. foreign aid provided to United Nations humanitarian programs each year.

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"We know that Hamas supports the indiscriminate killing of civilians. We know that UNRWA cannot account for large amounts of money it has spent. And we know that UNRWA does not check Palestinian beneficiaries against a list of known terrorists," said Rothman.

"With all of this information known, the United States must find out what is unknown: Are U.S. tax dollars funding terrorists through UNRWA?"

UNRWA is the UN agency charged with providing services to the four and a half million Palestinians living in the Middle East.

In their letter to Rice, the congressman wrote "we now must insist that an independent, international audit be conducted to correct a documented record of UNRWA's lack of financial integrity, poor management and failure to comply with U.S. anti-terror law."

The congressman said that despite the agency's size and $400 million dollar budget, "the agency does not permit outside, independent audits of its books."

Both congressman are members of the Appropriations Committee?s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, which makes decisions about all U.S. foreign aid.