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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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