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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha 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 Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

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

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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