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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain 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.

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

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister 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 "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

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

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

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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