Negotiations were on until minutes before the formal announcement of the deal by Qatar PM

Deal to take effect at 6.30 GMT today

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THE breakthrough ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was stitched together just minutes before the press conference announcing it, sources told BBC.

"Literally, negotiations were up until 10 minutes before the press conference. So that's how things were stitched up at the last minute," a source familiar with the talks said.

The Israeli and Hamas negotiators gathered inside the same building, separated by just one floor. A source told BBC that uncertainty lingered till the end. Even when the podium was being set up for the Qatari prime minister to announce the deal, a last-minute push to stop the agreement breaking down was on.

An Israeli official told the BBC that Hamas was earlier "dictating" terms and uncompromising in its approach. But he said that changed with the death of top leader Yahya Al-Sinwar and Israeli operations against Hamas's allies in the region. "We could not achieve a deal like this until conditions had changed," the official said.

The official said the pressure was not merely on Hamas, but also on the Israeli leadership with Trump's election as US president in November.