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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

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. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the deal.

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

"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 many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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