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

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

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

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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