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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" 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.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. 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 key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal