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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by President 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.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

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

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

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

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced 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 killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," 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 problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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