How Donald Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Major Step Which Eluded Joe Biden

Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

In public, 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 "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree 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 publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

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

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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