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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

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

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

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment 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 Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

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

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

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

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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