🔗 Share this article

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

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

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

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped 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, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal