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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace further away.

The attack on September 9 breached the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

But if this deal holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors at play beyond the control of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took endangered dividing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Several months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent US armed support to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to exert maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

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

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel 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 war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to express regret. 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 region.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that he used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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