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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller 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 relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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