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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

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

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

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

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