How Trump Secured a Gaza Major Step That Eluded Biden

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

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought 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 defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His 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 first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

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

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