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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a goal that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence 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 you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable 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 sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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