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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, 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 key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

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

During his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as the prime minister himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal