🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, 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 disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

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

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign 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.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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