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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

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

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, 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 initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to 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 the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

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

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, 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 deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal