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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace further away.

This strike on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

However, it proved to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for nearly two years.

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

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

Trump's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship Which Eluded Biden

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

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

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

After the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump directed US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of a number of captives.

When Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

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

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

This US president's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, such as the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the support of influential Arab states in the region.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"One of the things that evidently occurred was that the US leader gained influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the desires of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand detainees held in its jails and has consented to a limited pullback from the strip.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

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