🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

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

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

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

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months 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 went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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