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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During 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 Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden'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 political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst 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 challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal