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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace further away.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

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

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

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

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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