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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

But if this agreement stands, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world appear to have contributed in this success.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, even bombing a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

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

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to issue an final demand to Netanyahu. The war had to stop.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment 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. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted 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 the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat close as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to do relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister himself was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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