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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support 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.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal