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

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

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

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control 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 the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct 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. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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