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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling 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, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, 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 more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal