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Initially, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on September 9 violated the sovereignty of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and full Israeli withdrawal are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's distinct approach and key alliances with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under international law.

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

These public demonstrations of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's envoy, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

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

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller 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."

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

The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own domestic support, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had less importance than the simple fact that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, every one of its key military goals had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to end.

The US leader had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He provided American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter completely, pushing him closer to 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 get a peace deal done.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. This year, he also stopped in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months helped shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on Doha, the president was present close as the prime minister personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming the president's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to pressure the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have faced, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in the nation than the prime minister himself was leverage that Trump employed to his advantage, he adds.

Now 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 free all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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