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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

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

But if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

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

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

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence 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 Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

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

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

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

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to 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, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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