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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step 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 holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

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

Those public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to exert more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil 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 leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, 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 not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

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

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

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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