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

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

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 many foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally 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 Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump urged 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 a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath 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 the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal