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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

That represents a goal that he, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

Trump's distinct approach and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". Moreover these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

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

These visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on Israel in private. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's military actions behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step the leader took endangered dividing his own domestic support, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had less importance than the reality that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but no Hamas officials, prompted the president to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are widely known. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped change his thinking, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister himself phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If the president's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and helped them convince the group to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now Israel has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October assault, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the war, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal