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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister 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 actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

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 reach an agreement.

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

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst 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 warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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