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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that pushed the hope of peace out of reach.

This strike on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked widening the conflict into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a goal that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

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

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Arab world seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.

But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

Strong Ties Which Eluded Biden

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

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these positive statements have been matched by actions.

Throughout his initial time in office, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, the position under global norms.

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

Those visible shows of backing may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government behind the scenes. According to reports, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israel attacked against Syria's military in July, including hitting a place of worship, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of determination and insistence on an Israel's leader that is rarely seen, 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 they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more strained.

His administration's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to influence the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout his term, the Israeli government was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into his new administration, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.

Business History Helped Gain Support from Arab States

The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. He lent US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards 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 turning point which galvanised the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The president's Abraham Accords, which established ties between the Jewish state and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his first term.

The time he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months helped shift his perspective, says Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where he received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, Trump sat nearby as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the area.

If Trump's alliance with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence Israel to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted 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," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of earlier administrations have faced, and he seems to handle with some success."

The reality that Trump is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

Hamas will free all the captives still held, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of the territory and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal