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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

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

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal