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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

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

Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always 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 nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal