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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader 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 strained.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened 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.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees 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 in the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal