🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal