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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and 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 full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped 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 many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

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

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister himself called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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