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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach 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 control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu 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 July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

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 Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as the prime minister himself called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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