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

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

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

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations 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 Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

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

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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