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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike 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 the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

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 behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

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

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic 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 Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations 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 maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve 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 appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal