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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

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

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

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

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

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

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off 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 provided him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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