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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective 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 disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

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

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base 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 make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

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

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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