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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

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

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government 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 return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of will 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 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 tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst 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 combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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