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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted 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 the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert 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 Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

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

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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