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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

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

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

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

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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