🔗 Share this article

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy 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 against international law, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

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

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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