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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

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

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister 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 "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

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 Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert 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 UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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