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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe 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 played a role in this success.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during 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 devastation of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal