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

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

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

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, 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 position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to 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."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing 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 his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage 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 partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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