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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this success.

But, as with many 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.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of determination and insistence 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 leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal