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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, the US president pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was consistently more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

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

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led the president to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"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 earlier administrations have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

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

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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