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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target 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 accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed 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. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he 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 the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal