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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities 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, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller 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 approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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