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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

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

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

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

But if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

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

Now the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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