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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

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

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure 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 literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted 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 Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president'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 influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal