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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

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

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

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

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told 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 close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst 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 previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

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

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal