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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment 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 seem to have played a role in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, 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 illegal, the view under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

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

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, 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 connection with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics 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 Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

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

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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