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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded 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 success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations 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 the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

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

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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