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At first, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that pushed the prospect of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an US partner and threatened expanding the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy 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.

This is a goal that he, and Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be negotiated.

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

The president's unique style and key alliances with the Israeli government and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

The president likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and Netanyahu has described Trump as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump moved the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When the Israeli military began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.

Those visible shows of backing may have given Trump the leeway to apply more pressure on Israel behind the scenes. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, even hitting a place of worship, Trump pressured Netanyahu to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and insistence 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 connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "close embrace approach" held that the US had to support the nation publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct in private.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of support for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the Gaza War. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic weakened, the militant group to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack 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 the prime minister. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided American military might to Israeli operations in Iran. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him towards the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.

Several Trump officials have told media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

This US president's strong connections with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also stopped in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.

His visits devoted in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped shift his perspective, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president sat nearby as the prime minister himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the prime minister 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 area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade Hamas to agree to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and indirectly with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and avoid yielding to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that many earlier administrations have faced, and Trump appears to do with some success."

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

Now Israel has committed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

Hamas will release all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal