🔗 Share this article

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

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows 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 Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal