🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

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

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations 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 Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes 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 combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal