U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized Barack Obama for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, as he highlighted his own success in bringing peace to Gaza.
‘He got a prize for doing nothing,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he was joined by the Finland PM on Thursday following the historic US-brokered peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
Obama received the prestigious award in 2009, eight months into his first term.
‘They gave it to Obama for absolutely nothing but destroying our country,’ Trump said as he announced that he intends to travel to Egypt for the signing of the deal in the coming days.
‘I’ve stopped eight wars, so that’s never happened before — but they’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I saved a lot of lives.’
The Nobel Peace Prize is expected to be announced today in Oslo, Norway. Trump is a big outsider for the notoriously woke award, with only a 5 percent chance of taking the honor, according to prediction market Kalshi.
The frontrunner is Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, a community-led network that has provided health aid across the country since war erupted in April 2023.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he had secured a historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas, defying all expectations despite his proud deal-making track record.
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.’
