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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened expanding the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, 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 strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to exert more pressure on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, even bombing a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader exhibited a degree of will 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 literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to support the nation openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump appears to do with some success."

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

Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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