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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, 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 the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

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

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal