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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing 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 turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to express regret. 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.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees imprisoned 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 in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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