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

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

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 many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally 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 support of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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