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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump 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 relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, 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."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade 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 Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

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

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal