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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

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

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president'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 endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready 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 key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided 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 Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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