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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country 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 global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support 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 loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve 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 appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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