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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire 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.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances 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 influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission 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 view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

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

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government 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, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

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

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

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

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

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

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal