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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict 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 President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

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

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

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

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed 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 separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed 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, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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