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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

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

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

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

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman 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 desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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