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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

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

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

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

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike 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 gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. 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 faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

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

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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