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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas 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.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal