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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

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 American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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