🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst 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 Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal