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At first, Israel's aerial attack on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

This strike on 9 September violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked widening the conflict into a region-wide war.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.

This is a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden before him, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

However, as with most foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

A Close Relationship Which Biden Never Had

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and Netanyahu has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been backed up by deeds.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the occupied territories are illegal, the view under international law.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, the US leader directed American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of support may have allowed the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's envoy, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a halt in fighting in return for the release of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including bombing a Christian church, Trump urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a level of determination and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is no example of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

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

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to influence the nation's war conduct in private.

Beneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its northern border significantly reduced and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain 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 Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided American military might to Israeli operations 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 end the war.

A number of Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president to exert full force 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 UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the state where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

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

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and helped them convince Hamas to agree to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader developed influence with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump appears to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that he employed to his advantage, he adds.

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

Hamas will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

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