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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal