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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under international law.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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