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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities 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, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

However, 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, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal