How Donald Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Breakthrough That Eluded Joe Biden

Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued 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 remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement 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 the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

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

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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