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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, 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 moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader 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 you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack 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 Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations 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 helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

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.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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