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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

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

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike 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 finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

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

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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