The Way Donald Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Major Step Which Escaped Biden

At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

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

The leader displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing 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 leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal