The Way Donald Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Breakthrough That Eluded Biden

Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided 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 unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure 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 deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised 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 the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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