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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like another intensification that pushed the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a objective that he, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks 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 Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump exhibited a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to enable it to influence the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during his term, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and he appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was an advantage that he employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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