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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement stands, 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 Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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