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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

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

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, 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 full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

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

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

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

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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