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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations 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

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal