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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. 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 freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

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

"That made a difference. His ability to do 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 he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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