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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in late 2024 into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel 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 contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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