The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Peace Prize, held its final meeting on Monday, the Nobel Institute said yesterday, two days before this year’s winner is revealed. “The last meeting of the Nobel Committee took place on Monday. The final steps were taken on Monday but we never say when the Nobel Committee makes its decision,” Erik Oschheim, spokesperson for the Norwegian Nobel Institute, told AFP.
The five-member committee typically reaches its decision several days, or even weeks, before the official unveiling, then convenes one last time in the home stretch. That timeline suggests the laureate’s name was settled well before the Israel–Hamas agreement based on U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan. No additional committee meeting is expected before today’s announcement at 12:00 Cyprus time, Oschheim added. “There will be a laureate this year,” he said, addressing speculation that the committee might withhold the prize amid deteriorating geopolitics.
According to historian Asle Sveen, a Nobel specialist, the Israel-Hamas deal “has absolutely no impact” on the 2025 choice because “the committee has already made its decision.” “Trump will not get the prize this year. I’m 100% sure of that,” he said, arguing the U.S. president has long “given free rein” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza and provided significant military support to Israel.
Israel and Hamas today announced a ceasefire and a hostage-release agreement, seen as a key step toward ending two years of devastating war in Gaza. Trump, seeking a role in resolving multiple conflicts, has insisted since returning to the White House in January that he “deserves” the Nobel, recently calling the prospect of not receiving it an “insult” to the United States. For his part, Netanyahu said today that Trump merits the Peace Prize, posting on the Israeli prime minister’s official X account: “Give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, he deserves it!”
This year, 338 individuals and organisations were nominated for the Peace Prize. Last year’s award went to the Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo, a movement of survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
