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At first, 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 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

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

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

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal