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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

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

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government 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 influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

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

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply 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 halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

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

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal