🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal