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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

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

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

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply 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.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst 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."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

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

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader 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 the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, 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 relatively successfully."

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

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal