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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace further away.

This strike 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 in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal