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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

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

This is a goal 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 details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, 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 crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

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

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says 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 the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal