🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal