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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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 Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

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

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to 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 the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal