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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will 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 US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics 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 the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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