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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president 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 US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals 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 issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

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

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