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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of peace 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 seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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