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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire out of reach.

The attack on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to free all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's distinct approach 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 diplomatic achievements, there were also elements involved beyond the control of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the US presidency". And these positive statements have been backed up by actions.

During his initial time in office, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered American aircraft to target the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed Trump the room to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israel attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

Trump displayed a level of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

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

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip devastated, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

The US leader had allowed Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to exert maximum pressure 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 United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, Trump was present close as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his history with Muslim leaders may have secured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"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 Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the warring sides has been a challenge that lot of earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle with some success."

The fact that Trump is much more popular in Israel than the prime minister himself was leverage that he used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal