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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

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

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

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

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

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"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 previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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