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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities 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 travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal