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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv 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.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of backing may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed 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 different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

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

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

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

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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