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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, 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 Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence 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 US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

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

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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