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Initially, Israel's air strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar appeared like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on 9 September breached the sovereignty of an US partner and risked widening the hostilities into a region-wide war.

Negotiations appeared to be collapsing.

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

This is a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for nearly two years.

It is just the first step towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.

The president's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have contributed in this breakthrough.

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

Strong Ties That Biden Never Had

In public, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.

Trump often states that Israel has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by actions.

During his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran in June, the US leader ordered US bombers to target the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of support may have given Trump the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in return for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syria's military in the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more strained.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation openly in order to allow it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath 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. Every step Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, whereas Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to manoeuvre.

In the end, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza devastated, all its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

Trump had given Israel a significant latitude in Gaza. The president lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to end the war.

A number of administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a turning point which galvanised the leader to exert full force to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also stopped in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

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

The time he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula in recent months contributed to change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to put a stop to the conflict.

Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, Trump was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to apologise. And later that day, the prime minister signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart gave him the ability to pressure the government to reach an agreement, his past with Muslim leaders may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that clearly happened was that President Trump gained leverage with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," says an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and he seems to handle relatively successfully."

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

Now Israel has agreed to releasing over a thousand detainees imprisoned in its jails and has consented to a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

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

A conclusion to the war, which has resulted in the devastation of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal