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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and President 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 complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

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

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

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

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

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

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had given Israel 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 separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump 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 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 biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal