The Way Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Major Step That Eluded Biden

At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

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

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

The Biden team'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 war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

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

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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