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

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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