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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "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 connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation'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 Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

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

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal