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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

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

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

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

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing 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, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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