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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

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

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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