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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the hope of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

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

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

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

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment 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 contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present nearby as Netanyahu himself called the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal