🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step 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 holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called 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, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

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

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal