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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

But if this deal holds, 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 key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties 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, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background 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 issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

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

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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