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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

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

It is just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and 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 White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with the Israeli administration was consistently more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him towards the Arab position 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 leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming the president's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the desires of the combatants has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal