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

The attack on 9 September breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

But if this deal stands, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances 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 control of either man.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in July, including bombing a place of worship, the US president pressured his counterpart to change course.

The leader displayed a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" argued that the US had to support Israel openly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions 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. Every step the leader took endangered fracturing his own domestic support, whereas his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an ultimatum to Netanyahu. 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 strike on Qatar soil was a different matter completely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also stopped in Doha and the UAE capital.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince the group to agree to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," 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 desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal