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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

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

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat nearby as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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