🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal