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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

This is a goal that he, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this deal stands, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

The president's distinct approach and crucial relationships with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this success.

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

A Close Relationship That Biden Never Had

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president moved 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 Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have given the president the room to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, 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 freeing of some hostages.

When Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in July, even hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's solid Republican base gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, 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 immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with official trips to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that the president is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he employed to his benefit, the expert continues.

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, taken in the initial October 7 assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal