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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics 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 administration.

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

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

These public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply 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 UAE. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal