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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a Christian church, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

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 make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

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

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

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

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal