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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example 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" argued that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. 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, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

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

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

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

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal