The Way Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Breakthrough Which Escaped Biden

At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States 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 the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him towards 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 president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

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

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal