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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

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

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country 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 position under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says 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 combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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