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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

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

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties 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 capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval 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 pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal