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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

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

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

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

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