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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

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

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

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to 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 leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

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.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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