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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

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

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have played a role in this success.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under global norms.

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

These visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.

If the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal