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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions in private.

Underneath 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 Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

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

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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