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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel 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 exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat close as Netanyahu himself called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal