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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

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

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

Trump often states that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, the president sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal