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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

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

But if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack 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 decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president 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 bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal