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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

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

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

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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