Baskin, a progressive peace activist and two-state solution advocate, also said Hamas was willing to agree to a near-identical deal more than a year ago, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to countenance an end to the war until Trump pressured him to do so.
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“What we should know is that this deal could have been done a long time ago. Hamas agreed to all of the same terms in September 2024 … but at that point the response of the Israeli negotiators was that the prime minister did not agree to the end of the war.”
Baskin, who travelled to Australia this year, led negotiations with Hamas over Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 and released as part of a 2011 prisoner exchange.
Asked whether Trump deserved the prize, Wong told Sky News that the peace deal he brokered “has been the biggest contribution to peace that we have seen in a very long time”.
“Obviously, it’s a matter for the committee, but this has been the greatest contribution to peace in the Middle East for a generation or more,” she said.
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“He plays by a different playbook and it’s working.”
Wong cited comments from Trump in which he said he told Netanyahu that he “can’t fight the world” as evidence that global moves to recognise Palestine had helped the peace process, even though they were publicly opposed by the Trump administration.
“I see it as confirmation that being part of international momentum towards peace was the right call,” she said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on securing the peace.
Netanyahu’s office backed Trump for the award on social media, saying: “Give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it!”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also said Trump “deserves the Nobel Peace Prize” for the peace deal, according to a statement reported by Turkey’s state-run news service, Anadolu Agency.
The deal, approved by the Israeli government on Friday, cleared the way for the suspension of hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and the release of Israeli hostages – taken in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and being held in Gaza – within 72 hours after that.
Hamas is holding 48 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive. The living hostages are expected to be released on Monday or Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.Credit: Bloomberg
Israel is expected to release nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the remaining 48 hostages.
“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased,” Netanyahu’s English-language X account said.
The Israeli cabinet approval was largely expected but put a capstone on the first phase of the deal.
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