🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal