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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump ordered US bombers to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in late 2024 into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, 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 the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards 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 maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal