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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump often states that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing 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 maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he used to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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