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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing 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.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

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

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence 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 timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal