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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply 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 allow it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press 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. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

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

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal