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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, 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 first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

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

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures 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 strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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