The Way Trump Secured a Gaza Major Step Which Eluded Biden

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to 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 turning point which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal