🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

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 reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees 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, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal