How Trump Achieved a Gaza Breakthrough That Escaped Joe Biden

Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

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

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace 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 Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections 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 official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

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

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal