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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

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

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated 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 illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

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

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might 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.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

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

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he 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 partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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