Benjamin Netanyahu shared an AI-generated image of himself awarding Donald Trump a Nobel Peace Prize medallion, amid growing speculation that Trump could receive the prize.

The image, shared on the Israeli prime minister’s X account, depicts Trump, hands raised, wearing an oversized medal and surrounded by confetti as a crowd waves Israeli flags in celebration.

The US president is stood under a banner reading ‘peace through strength.’

‘Give [Donald Trump] the Nobel Peace Prize — he deserves it,’ the post is captioned.

This speculation arises after the Israeli government’s approval of Trump’s ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, marking the two-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre.

Trump, who previously criticized Barack Obama for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, following indirect negotiations in Egypt.

Netanyahu’s government said on Thursday it had given its final approval to back the agreement after 734 days of war.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office declared: ‘The government has now greenlit the framework for releasing all hostages – both living and deceased.’

Following the Israeli government’s approval, the ceasefire commenced, with the military directed to withdraw from Gaza within 24 hours according to an established line, an anonymous Israeli official reported.

It came despite fierce opposition from Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Under Trump’s deal, Hamas plans to release all remaining hostages, both living and dead, in exchange for roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. 

The Once they are returned, Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazans who have been held since October 7.

‘We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday – Monday or Tuesday – and that’ll be a day of joy,’ Trump said. 

America will send 200 troops to monitor the ceasefire deal, although separate reports from a senior US official say they will not be deployed in Gaza.

Instead, there will be a ‘joint task force’ that could include soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the UAE.

Trump has consistently claimed that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, while families of hostages have urged the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award it to him, adding he ‘brought us light through our darkest times’ with his 20 point peace plan for Gaza. 

The US president says he should receive it for his role in ending the Israel-Gaza conflict as well as conflict between Cambodia-Thailand, Kosovo-Serbia, Congo-Rwanda, Pakistan-India, Egypt-Ethiopia and Armenia-Azerbaijan.

‘I deserve it, but they will never give it to me,’ he said when asked the award in February.

While in June he said ‘I should have gotten it four or five times’.

Trump has previously been nominated for his role in brokering the 2020 Abraham Accords which led to the normalization of relations between Israel and four Arab neighbours.

Experts say the committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals.

But longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s chances remain remote despite notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.

The Emergency Response Rooms, which has provided humanitarian aid to millions of people caught up in the civil war in Sudan, have been tipped as favourites, alongside Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian pro-democracy activist Alexei Navalny. 

Last year’s award went to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have worked for decades to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons.

The peace prize is the only one of the annual Nobel prizes to be awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Four of the other prizes have already been awarded in the Swedish capital, Stockholm this week – in medicine on Monday, physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday.