Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas militant delegation in Qatar seemed like another intensification that drove the prospect of a ceasefire further away.
This strike on September 9 breached the territorial integrity of an American ally and threatened widening the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.
Diplomacy appeared to be in ruins.
Instead, it turned out to be a key moment that culminated in a deal, announced by Donald Trump, to release all captives still held.
That represents a goal that Trump, and President Joe Biden previously, had sought for almost 24 months.
This marks just the initial phase towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and complete Israeli pullout remain to be worked out.
But if this agreement holds, it could be Donald Trump's defining accomplishment of his return to office - one that escaped Joe Biden and his administration.
Trump's distinct approach and crucial relationships with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this breakthrough.
But, as with many diplomatic achievements, there were also factors at play beyond the control of both leaders.
Publicly, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are consistently friendly.
The president likes to say that the nation has no better friend, and Netanyahu has called Trump as the country's "greatest ever ally in the White House". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.
Throughout his first presidential term, the president relocated the American diplomatic mission in the country from its former location to the contested capital and abandoned a long-held US position that Jewish communities in the Palestinian West Bank are illegal, the view under global norms.
After Israel began its air strikes against Iran in June, the US leader directed US bombers to strike the nation's nuclear enrichment facilities with its most powerful conventional bombs.
Those visible shows of support may have allowed Trump the leeway to apply more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, Trump's negotiator, his representative, pressured the prime minister in the latter part of the year into accepting a temporary ceasefire in return for the freeing of some hostages.
After Israel launched strikes against Syrian forces in the summer, including hitting a Christian church, Trump pressured his counterpart to change course.
Trump displayed a degree of determination and pressure on an Israel's leader that is virtually unprecedented, according to an analyst of the a think tank. "It's unheard of of an American president directly instructing an Israeli prime minister that you're going to have to comply or else."
Joe Biden's connection with Netanyahu's government was consistently more tenuous.
The Biden team's "bear hug strategy" argued that the US had to embrace the nation publicly in order to allow it to moderate the country's war conduct in private.
Underneath this was Biden's decades-long of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his political base over the conflict in Gaza. Every step the leader took risked fracturing his own domestic support, while Trump's solid Republican base provided him more flexibility to act.
In the end, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to reach an agreement.
Several months into his new administration, with Iran chastened, the militant group to its northern border significantly reduced and Gaza devastated, every one of its major strategy objectives had been accomplished.
An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, led the president to issue an final demand to the prime minister. Hostilities had to stop.
Trump had given the Israeli military a significant latitude in the territory. He lent American military might to Israel's campaign in Iran. However an attack on Qatar soil was a different matter entirely, moving him closer to the Arab position on how best to conclude the conflict.
A number of Trump officials have told the press that this was a turning point which motivated the leader to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.
This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are well documented. He has business dealings with the emirate and the United Arab Emirates. The president began each of his administrations with state visits to the kingdom. This year, he also visited in Doha and Abu Dhabi.
His Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest foreign policy success of his initial presidency.
His visits he spent in the cities of the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year contributed to shift his perspective, according to an expert of the a policy institute. The US president did not visit Israel on this Middle East trip but visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader received consistent appeals to bring an end to the war.
Less than a month after that attack on the city, Trump was present nearby as the prime minister personally phoned Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the backing of influential Arab states in the region.
Assuming the president's alliance with his counterpart gave him the room to pressure Israel to strike a deal, his past with Arab rulers may have secured their support, and helped them convince the group to commit to the deal.
"A key factor that clearly happened was that the US leader gained leverage with the Israelis, and through intermediaries with the militants," notes an analyst of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"That made a difference. His ability to do this on his own schedule, and avoid yielding to the demands of the combatants has been a problem that many previous presidents have struggled with, and Trump seems to handle relatively successfully."
The fact that Trump is far better liked in Israel than the prime minister personally was an advantage that he employed to his advantage, the expert continues.
Now the Israeli government has agreed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has consented to a partial withdrawal from the strip.
The group will release all the captives still held, living and dead, taken in the original 7 October 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 Gaza and the deaths of more than 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal
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