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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of a ceasefire out of reach.

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

Negotiations seemed to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

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

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

But, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

During his first presidential term, the president moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support Israel openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden'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 dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Business History Assisted Secure Gulf's Backing

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

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not visit the country on this regional tour but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on Trump's 20-point peace plan for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was leverage that Trump employed to his benefit, he adds.

Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has consented to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, captured during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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