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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

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

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula 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 went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

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

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

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal