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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

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

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president 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 approach" argued that the US had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

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

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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