The Way Trump Secured a Gaza Major Step Which Escaped Biden

Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

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

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal