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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel 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 the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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