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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play 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 Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, 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 achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says 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 challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he 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 advantage, he adds.

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

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal