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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, 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 "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

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.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

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

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities 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 Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests 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 Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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