🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted 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 final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which established ties 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 Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal