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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When 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 public demonstrations of support may have given the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader 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 consistently more strained.

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets 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 Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, 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 capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, 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 Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

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

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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