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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, 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 Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties 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 major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

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

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

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

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal