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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

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

During his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded 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, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike 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. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

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

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal