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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

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

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

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

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

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

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal