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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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