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Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar appeared like another escalation that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.

The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an US partner and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a agreement, announced by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

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

This marks just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the specifics of Hamas disarmament, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.

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

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

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

Strong Ties Which Biden Never Had

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

The president often states that Israel has no better friend, 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.

Throughout his initial time in office, the president relocated the US embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and discarded a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the view under international law.

After Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in June, Trump directed American aircraft to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.

These public demonstrations of support may have allowed the president the leeway to apply more influence on Israel behind the scenes. According to reports, the president's envoy, his representative, browbeat 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 the summer, including bombing a Christian church, Trump urged Netanyahu to change course.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader literally telling an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."

Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

The Biden team's "close embrace strategy" held that the US had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to influence the country's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was Biden's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Every step Biden took risked dividing his own political backing, while his successor's solid Republican base gave him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, the Israeli government was not ready to make peace.

Several months into his new administration, with Iran weakened, the militant group to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to deliver an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.

The US leader had allowed the Israeli military a relatively free hand in the territory. The president provided American military might to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But 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.

Several administration figures have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to apply full force to get a peace deal done.

This US president's close ties with the Gulf states are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with Qatar and the UAE. He began each of his administrations with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Trump also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

The president's normalization agreements, which normalised relations between the Jewish state and several Muslim states, including the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

His visits he spent in the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. Trump did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.

Within weeks after that Israeli strike on Doha, the president was present nearby as Netanyahu personally called the Qatari leadership to apologise. Subsequently, the prime minister signed off on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that also had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

If Trump's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Arab rulers may have secured their backing, and assisted them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that the US leader developed influence with the Israelis, and indirectly with the militants," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the desires of the combatants has been a challenge that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to do with some success."

The reality that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu himself was leverage that he used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently Israel has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees held in its jails and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.

The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken during the initial October 7 assault, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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