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At first, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas delegation in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

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

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

Yet if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that eluded Biden and his administration.

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have played a role in this breakthrough.

But, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

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

The president often states that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat the prime minister in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

The leader displayed a level of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that they must agree or else."

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

The Biden team's "close embrace approach" argued that the United States had to embrace Israel openly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Eight months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain 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 final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president lent American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with Qatar and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's normalization agreements, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the capitals of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard repeated calls to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and helped them persuade the group to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

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

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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