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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

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

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

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

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, 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 end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal