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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree 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 the nation openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure 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 Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. 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 backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

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

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