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At first, Israel's air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.

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

Negotiations appeared to be in ruins.

However, it proved to be a key moment that has led in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and President Joe Biden before him, had sought for almost 24 months.

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

Yet if this deal holds, it could be Trump's signature achievement of his second term - one that escaped Biden and his administration.

Trump's unique style and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also elements at play beyond the influence of both leaders.

A Close Relationship That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that the nation has no greater ally, and the Israeli leader has described him as the country's "most supportive friend in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been backed up by actions.

During his first presidential term, Trump moved the American diplomatic mission in Israel from its former location to the contested capital and discarded a long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the leeway to exert more influence on Israel in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the release of some hostages.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, Trump urged his counterpart to alter tactics.

Trump displayed a level of determination and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's relationship with Netanyahu's government was always more tenuous.

His administration's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's war conduct behind closed doors.

Beneath this was the president's decades-long of backing for Israel, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the Gaza War. Each move Biden took endangered fracturing his own political backing, while his successor's loyal conservative voters provided him more room to manoeuvre.

In the end, domestic politics or individual ties may have had little impact than the simple fact that, during Biden's presidency, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran chastened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in the Qatari capital, which killed a local national but no Hamas officials, led Trump to deliver an ultimatum to the prime minister. The war had to end.

Trump had allowed the Israeli military a significant latitude in Gaza. The president provided US armed support to Israel's campaign in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him closer to the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of administration figures have told the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the leader to exert full force to finalize an agreement.

The leader's strong connections with the Arab monarchies are well documented. Trump has commercial interests with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began both his presidential terms with state visits to Saudi Arabia. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the Emirates, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his first term.

His visits devoted in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom and the state where he heard consistent appeals to bring an end to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president sat close as Netanyahu himself phoned Qatar to express regret. And later that day, the Israeli leader gave approval on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that also had the backing of key Muslim nations in the region.

Assuming Trump's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to influence the government to reach an agreement, his history with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and assisted them persuade Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that President Trump gained influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with Hamas," notes an analyst of the a research center.

"This was crucial. His ability to achieve this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have struggled with, and he seems to do with some success."

The fact that the president is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that Trump used to his advantage, the expert continues.

Currently the Israeli government has committed to freeing over a thousand Palestinians held in its jails and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, captured in the original 7 October assault, which caused the death of over 1,200 Israelis.

An end to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of Gaza and the deaths of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal