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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal