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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of backing may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, 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, the kingdom and the state where he received repeated calls to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. 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 influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

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

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

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