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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing 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 motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand 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, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal