🔗 Share this article

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country 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.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

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

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, 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 president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar 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 region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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