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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

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

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

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

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

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

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership 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 area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

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

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal