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

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought 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.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "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 connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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