🔗 Share this article

Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

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

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

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald 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 Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which 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 him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath 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. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, 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 the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

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

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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