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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued 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 agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

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

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to exert 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 halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst 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."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug approach" argued that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

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

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. 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 region.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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