🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

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

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, 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.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to 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 consistently more strained.

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

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout 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 significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says 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 the state where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

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

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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