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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in 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 more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal