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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

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

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal