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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave 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 not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal