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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President 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.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

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

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump 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 Palestinian West Bank are against international law, 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 Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal