The Way Trump Achieved a Gaza Strip Major Step That Eluded Joe Biden

Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, 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 "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered 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 leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

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

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to 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 UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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