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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

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

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

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing 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 approach" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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