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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another escalation that pushed the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to change course.

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

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, pushing him closer to 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 leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump sat close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to do with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal