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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example 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 "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped 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 visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

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

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal