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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement 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 crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

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

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to 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 he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal