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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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 pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, 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, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to 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, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal