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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death 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