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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

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

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

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. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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