Donald Trump has ripped into Barack Obama for being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize as the president touted his achievement in securing peace in Gaza.
‘He got a prize for doing nothing,’ Trump mentioned to reporters in the Oval Office while he was accompanied by the Finland PM on Thursday after the historic US-mediated peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Obama was awarded the esteemed accolade in 2009, merely eight months into his presidency, which surprised many globally. Even the liberal New York Times commented that it was ‘very premature’ and suggested the Nobel ‘should have a higher bar.’
‘They gave it to Obama for absolutely nothing but destroying our country,’ Trump remarked as he revealed his plans to visit Egypt for the signing of the agreement in the near future.
‘I’ve stopped eight wars, which has never happened before — but they’ll do what they decide. Whatever they choose is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that reason; I did it because I saved many lives.’
The Nobel Peace Prize announcement is scheduled for 5 am (EST) on Thursday in Oslo, Norway. Trump remains a long shot for the award, notorious for its progressive choices, with merely a 5 percent chance of winning, according to prediction market Kalshi.
Currently, the favorite is Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, a community-led initiative that has delivered health care throughout the country since conflicts broke out in April 2023.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he had secured an historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas, defying all expectations despite his proud deal-making track record.
President Donald Trump and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb meet in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday
President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama poses with his medal and diploma at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at City Hall in Oslo, Thursday, December 10, 2009
It brings to an end two years of fighting that has seen 70,000 Palestinians killed since the October 7 attack, which left 1,200 people dead and another 250 taken hostage by Hamas.
The president confirmed the remaining hostages, believed to number around 20 survivors, will be released to Israel on Monday or Tuesday.
‘I’ll be there,’ Trump confirmed.
Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said earlier: ‘We have received assurances from the brotherly mediators and the US administration, who have confirmed that the war is completely over.’
He promised that 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israel would be freed, alongside 1,700 Palestinians from Gaza who were arrested since the war began.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet is poised to vote on the deal, which would see all remaining hostages freed within 72 hours of the ceasefire.
‘It will be a day of joy,’ Trump stated, noting that the Israeli hostages held by Hamas ‘should be released Monday or Tuesday.’
Trump said there were still discussions coordinating the release of the hostages.
Senator Marco Rubio praises the President’s role in the Gaza peace deal, noting that a month ago, no one thought it was possible
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces
He said: ‘Getting them is a complicated process. I would rather not tell you what they have to do to get them. There are places you don’t want to be.’
Trump revealed he would travel to the Middle East ‘very soon’ but that the timing and details were still being worked out.
‘It’s really peace in the Middle East,’ he said, noting that he had proved the skeptics wrong after they believed he would never reach a deal.
The president confirmed he had agreed to speak at Israel’s house of representatives. Israeli press tonight reported that he will arrive in Israel on Sunday.
‘They’ve asked me to speak at the Knesset and I’ve agreed to it. If they would like me to, I would do it,’ he said.
He reminded the public of the atrocities of the October 7, but he also noted that tens of thousands of lives had been lost in Gaza.
‘That’s big retribution… at some point the whole thing has to stop,’ he said.
‘We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday,’ Trump told his cabinet, saying the agreement will be signed in Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet convened Thursday evening to approve the deal.
An Israel government official said a full ceasefire would begin 24 hours after approval, with Hamas then having 72 hours to return all hostages.
Trump also revealed details of the future of the deal, noting that it would not include a proposals forcing Palestinians to leave Gaza while it is rebuilt.
‘Nobody’s going to be forced to leave, no — it’s just the opposite. This is a great peace plan. This is a plan that was supported by everybody,’ he said. ‘They’re dancing in the streets in many many countries right now.’
Israeli forces will withdraw to lines controlling about 53 percent of Gaza, an Israeli government spokesman added. The military said it’s preparing for the hostages’ return and redeployment.
Trump thanked the leaders from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, for coming together to pressure Gaza to make a deal.
‘Everything came together,’ he said.
Palestinians and Israelis celebrated the news in their respective streets, waving flags and cheering.
‘Thank God the war is ended and we are alive,’ one Palestinian in Gaza told Fox News. ‘Honestly we hope the war does not come back and that this is really the end with no death and destruction afterwards.’
Trump’s announcement was the latest development in the fast-moving peace process that began after Rubio dramatically interrupted the President’s public remarks about left-wing violence in the United States.
‘I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they’re going to need me pretty quickly,’ Trump told reporters gathered at the roundtable on Wednesday.
