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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several 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 Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal