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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha appeared like another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this success.

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

A Close Relationship Which 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 described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These public demonstrations of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

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

Trump displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, 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."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

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

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister personally called Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Currently Israel has committed to releasing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal