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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst 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 always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue 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 decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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