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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the room to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured 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.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, 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 UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal