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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

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

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

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

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

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

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

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

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal