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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited 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, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in 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 devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal