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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

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

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

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

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister himself called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal