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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel 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 matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred 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. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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