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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

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

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. 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 told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

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

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal