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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

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

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal