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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

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

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics 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, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal