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

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

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

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

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

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

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