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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

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

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal