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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement holds, 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 seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel 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 position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate 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 normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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