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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more tenuous.

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

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

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

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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