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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

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

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

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

Currently Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal