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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

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

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location 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.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits 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 visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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