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

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal 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 Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

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

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But 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 the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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