Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha seemed like yet another escalation that drove the hope of a ceasefire further away.
The attack on September 9 violated the territorial integrity of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.
Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.
Instead, it turned out to be a pivotal event that culminated in a agreement, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.
This is a objective that he, and President Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.
It is just the initial phase towards a more durable peace, and the details of Hamas disarmament, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.
Yet if this agreement stands, it could be Donald Trump's signature achievement of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.
The president's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations appear to have played a role in this breakthrough.
However, as with most diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.
In public, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.
The president often states that the nation has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the White House". And these warm words have been backed up by actions.
During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the US embassy in the country from its former location to Jerusalem and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.
When the Israeli military began its air strikes against Iran in the summer, Trump directed American aircraft to strike the Iran's atomic sites with its most powerful conventional bombs.
Those public demonstrations of support may have given the president the leeway to exert more pressure on Israel in private. According to reports, the president's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pressured Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages.
After Israeli forces attacked against Syrian forces in the summer, including bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.
Trump exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, says an analyst 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 consistently more tenuous.
The Biden team's "bear hug approach" held that the United States had to embrace Israel publicly in order to allow it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.
Underneath this was the president's decades-long of support for Israel, as well as sharp divisions within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move the leader took risked dividing his own political backing, whereas Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.
Ultimately, internal considerations or individual ties may have had less importance than the reality that, throughout his term, Israel was not ready to reach an agreement.
Eight months into Trump's second term, with the Islamic Republic chastened, the militant group to its northern border greatly diminished and Gaza in ruins, all its major strategy objectives had been achieved.
The Israeli missile attack in the Qatari capital, which resulted in the death of a local national but not the intended targets, prompted the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.
The US leader had given Israel a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. But an attack on Qatari territory was a different matter entirely, pushing him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.
A number of Trump officials have informed the press that this was a decisive moment which galvanised the president 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. He began both his presidential terms with state visits to the kingdom. This year, Trump also visited in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
His Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and several Muslim states, including the Emirates, was the most significant foreign policy success of his initial presidency.
His visits he spent in the cities of the Gulf region in recent months contributed to shift his perspective, according to Ed Husain of the a policy institute. The US president did not travel to the country on this regional tour but went to the UAE, the kingdom and the state where he received consistent appeals to put a stop to the war.
Less than a month after that Israeli strike on the city, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to apologise. Subsequently, the Israeli leader gave approval on Trump's comprehensive proposal for Gaza - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the area.
If Trump's relationship with Netanyahu gave him the ability to influence the government to strike a deal, his history with Muslim leaders may have ensured their support, and assisted them persuade the group to agree to the deal.
"One of the things that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"That made a difference. The capacity to do this on his timing, and not succumb to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that lot of previous presidents have faced, and he appears to do with some success."
The fact that the president is far better liked in the nation than Netanyahu personally was an advantage that Trump employed to his advantage, the expert continues.
Now the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a limited pullback from the strip.
The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken in the original 7 October Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israeli citizens.
A conclusion to the conflict, which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal
Elara Vance is a dedicated MapleStory enthusiast and gaming writer, known for creating in-depth guides and staying updated on game mechanics.
