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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "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 relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

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

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to 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 president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year 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 visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, 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 the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal