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Initially, the Israeli aerial attack on the Hamas militant negotiating team in Qatar seemed like yet another intensification that drove the prospect of peace further away.

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

Diplomacy appeared to be collapsing.

Instead, it proved to be a pivotal event that culminated in a deal, declared by Donald Trump, to free all captives still held.

That represents a objective that he, and Joe Biden before him, had sought for nearly two years.

This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, Gaza governance and complete Israeli pullout are still to be worked out.

Yet 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 played a role in this success.

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

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

In public, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". Moreover these warm words have been matched by actions.

Throughout his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are against international law, the position under global norms.

When Israel began its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic in the summer, Trump ordered US bombers to target the Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

When Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a Christian church, the US president urged Netanyahu to change course.

The leader displayed a level of will and pressure on an Israeli prime minister that is rarely seen, says Aaron David Miller of the a think tank. "There is no example of an US leader directly instructing an Israeli leader that you're going to have to comply or else."

Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace strategy" held that the United States had to embrace the nation publicly in order to enable it to moderate the country's military actions behind closed doors.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more room to act.

Ultimately, internal considerations or personal relationships may have had little impact than the simple fact that, throughout Biden's presidency, the Israeli government was unwilling to reach an agreement.

Several months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north greatly diminished and the coastal strip in ruins, all its key military goals had been achieved.

Business History Assisted Gain Support from Arab States

An Israeli strike in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari citizen but not the intended targets, led Trump to issue an final demand to the prime minister. The war had to stop.

The US leader had given Israel a relatively free hand in the territory. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an strike on Qatar soil was a separate issue completely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to conclude the conflict.

A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to get a peace deal done.

The leader's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has business dealings with the emirate and the UAE. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.

His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the most significant diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time he spent in the capitals of the Gulf region earlier this year contributed to change his thinking, says an expert of the Council on Foreign Relations. The US president did not travel to the country on this Middle East trip but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where the leader received repeated calls to bring an end to the war.

Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present close as Netanyahu personally phoned the Qatari leadership to express regret. Subsequently, the prime minister gave approval on the president's 20-point peace plan for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.

Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart provided him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Muslim leaders may have secured their support, and assisted them convince Hamas to commit to the deal.

"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader developed leverage with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the militants," notes Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"That made a difference. The capacity to achieve this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many earlier administrations have struggled with, and Trump seems to do relatively successfully."

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

Currently the Israeli government has committed to releasing more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from Gaza.

The group will release all the remaining hostages, both alive and deceased, captured during the original 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.

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