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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided 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 unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history 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 President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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