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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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