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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another intensification that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

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

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"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 problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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