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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". 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 discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, 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.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, 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."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader'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 the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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