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

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

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

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him 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, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country 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 ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

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

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence 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 own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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