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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

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

But if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence 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 better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, 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 not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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