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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role 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

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

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he appears to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal