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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be worked out.

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

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

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

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under international law.

After the Israeli military began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have told the press that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," says an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his benefit, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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