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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

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

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing 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 domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity 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 he appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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