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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller 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 relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised 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. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal