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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

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

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words 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 long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

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

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

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

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal