The Israel-Hamas deal was made possible by 18-hour days and a "remarkable" partnership between Joe Biden and Donald Trump's Mideast envoys -- but even then it seemed it might come apart at the last minute.

In the final four days of talks, Biden's pointman Brett McGurk was joined in the region by Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get the deal over the line, US officials said.

As they did so, Israeli and Hamas negotiators were huddling on separate floors of a building in the Qatari capital Doha, while moderators from Qatar and Egypt shuttled between them with their proposals.

McGurk and Witkoff were talking "multiple times a day, and Mr Witkoff actually helped clinch down some of the details. There was great coordination," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.

A senior Biden administration official said that the unlikely pairing -- there is little love lost between the outgoing and incoming presidents -- had been a decisive factor in reaching a deal.

"Four days ago,........

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