The Egyptian intelligence chief was briefing a roomful of negotiators on the state of play in the Gaza Strip ceasefire talks when the prime minister of Qatar quietly slipped a handwritten note to Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

当埃及情报部门负责人向满屋的谈判代表介绍加沙地带停火谈判的进展时，卡塔尔首相悄悄递给贾里德·库什纳和史蒂夫·维特科夫一张手写便条。

The note urged the two Americans to push the Israelis to compromise.

这张纸条敦促这两位美国人推动以色列作出让步。

It was the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 8. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, had just arrived on a private plane in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for what they hoped would be a breakthrough, at last, in the negotiations to bring an eventual end to Israel’s two-year war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

那是10月8日星期三上午。库什纳——美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的女婿——与美国中东事务特使维特科夫刚乘坐私人飞机抵达埃及沙姆沙伊赫，他们期待此行能最终取得突破，结束以色列与哈马斯在加沙地带持续了两年的战争。

They had reason to be optimistic. For the first time, Hamas had signaled its readiness to release all the Israeli hostages without a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and as long as it received assurances that Israel would not return to war. Giving up the hostages could deprive Israel of a reason to carry on the war. And Israel was ready to free thousands of Palestinians from its prisons, including 250 serving life sentences.

他们的乐观并非毫无根据。哈马斯首次表示，只要得到以色列不再重启战事的保证，它愿意在以军不完全撤离的情况下释放所有以色列人质。放弃人质可能会使以色列失去继续打仗的理由。而以色列也准备从监狱释放数以千计巴勒斯坦人，其中包括250名被判无期徒刑者。

But the talks were jammed.

但谈判却陷入了僵局。

Negotiators who had been meeting for two days at the resort town’s international convention center had shied away from pressing Israel and Hamas on a thorny question: how much territory in Gaza the Israeli military would leave before the hostage and prisoner exchanges. They feared that getting into the details of the map could derail the talks altogether.

谈判代表们在这个度假小城的国际会议中心商谈了两天，他们一直没有向以色列和哈马斯施压解决一个棘手问题：在进行人质与囚犯交换之前，以军究竟应该从加沙地带多大范围的领土上撤离。他们担心，一旦深入讨论地图细节，可能导致谈判彻底破裂。

周六，特朗普的中东特使史蒂夫·维特科夫、女儿伊万卡·特朗普和女婿贾里德·库什纳在特拉维夫的人质广场发表讲话。

This account is based on interviews with 15 officials from the U.S., Israel and Arab governments involved in or briefed on the negotiations, all of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations and sensitive diplomacy.

本文内容基于对15名参与或了解谈判情况的美国、以色列及阿拉伯官员的采访整理而成，为了方便讨论私下交流及敏感外交内容，这些官员均要求匿名。

Both Israel and Hamas had taken maximalist positions. Hamas wanted Israel to pull out of Gaza entirely except for a narrow buffer zone along its border. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted Israeli troops to stay entrenched in some cities in Gaza to show his public and his hard-line ministers that he was making few concessions.

以色列与哈马斯都采取了极为强硬的立场。哈马斯要求以色列完全撤出加沙地带，仅保留沿边境的狭窄缓冲区。以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡则希望以军继续驻扎在加沙部分城市，以此向公众和强硬派部长表明他并未做出太多让步。

Bridging that gap last Wednesday required steady American pressure on the lead Israeli negotiator, Ron Dermer, officials said, as the Qatari premier’s note had urged. It also took three calls to the mediators from Trump himself, U.S. officials said.

这些官员透露，要在上周三弥合这一巨大分歧，需要美方对以色列首席谈判代表罗恩·德尔默持续施压——正如卡塔尔首相在纸条中所建议的那样。此外，特朗普本人还亲自给调解人员打了三次电话。

Dermer’s office declined to comment. Hamas did not respond to a request for comment.

德尔默的办公室拒绝置评。哈马斯未回应置评请求。

Ultimately, the two sides more or less split the difference, Arab officials said. Israel would hold onto much more territory than Hamas wanted it to, but it would pull out of many built-up areas.

阿拉伯官员表示，最终双方或多或少各退一步。以色列将保留比哈马斯所期望的更多领土，但会从许多建成区撤出。

Hamas grudgingly accepted the compromise, Arab and Israeli officials said.

阿拉伯与以色列官员透露，哈马斯勉强接受了这一折衷方案。

以色列首席谈判代表罗恩·德尔默上月现身白宫，当时特朗普总统与本雅明·内塔尼亚胡总理正准备举行联合新闻发布会。

The mediators also knew that negotiating an agreement focused on the narrower issues of a ceasefire and hostage and prisoner exchange was more attainable than pushing for a grand deal that dealt with difficult questions around Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’ disarmament.

调解方也明白，将谈判焦点放在停火以及人质与囚犯交换等具体问题上，更有可能达成协议，而不是推动一个全面协议，去处理以色列全面撤军或哈马斯解除武装等棘手议题。

The success of Wednesday’s talks, where earlier attempts had failed, reflected how, once enough pressure had been applied, seemingly huge impediments could be overcome, or at least set aside for later. In the past, the two sides had fallen back on absolutes. Israel insisted on “total victory,” and Hamas on a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

周三谈判的成功（而此前的努力皆告失败）表明，一旦施加足够压力，原本看似巨大的障碍也能被克服，或至少可暂时搁置。过去，双方一直坚持极端立场——以色列坚称要实现“全面胜利”，而哈马斯则要求以军完全撤出加沙。

A big complaint from mediators about Israel in prior talks was that its negotiators never really had a mandate from Netanyahu to make a deal.

调解方在先前谈判中对以色列的一大不满在于，其谈判代表从未真正获得内塔尼亚胡达成协议的授权。

This time, the leaders of both delegations — Khalil al-Hayya, the top Hamas negotiator, and Dermer — came with a mandate to reach a deal, Arab and Israeli officials said.

据阿拉伯和以色列官员表示，而这次，双方代表团的负责人——哈马斯首席谈判代表哈立勒·哈亚和以色列的德尔默——都带着明确的达成协议授权前来。

哈马斯首席谈判代表哈利勒·哈亚去年在伊斯坦布尔的资料照片。在最近谈判中，土耳其协助向哈马斯施加了压力。

The talks were the culmination of dizzying weeks of diplomacy that began after the fallout over Israel’s botched strike against Hamas officials meeting in Qatar. By late September, Trump had announced a 20-point plan that, while short on many details, specifically called for the release of all hostages in exchange for an Israeli pullback in Gaza.

这场谈判是几周来密集外交斡旋的高潮。它始于以色列针对哈马斯官员在卡塔尔的一次会议发动袭击失败，引发外交风波后。到9月下旬，特朗普宣布了一项20点计划，虽然缺乏细节，但明确要求释放所有人质以换取以色列从加沙撤军。

Crucially, on Oct. 3, Trump chose to embrace Hamas’ statement on his Gaza plan, even though it only offered support for part of his proposal, namely the exchange of hostages and prisoners. At the same time, he made clear that Israel would need to cooperate with his effort to strike a deal or risk facing his wrath.

重大转折发生在10月3日：特朗普选择接受哈马斯对其加沙计划的表态，尽管该组织仅对方案中关于人质换囚犯部分表示支持。同时他明确表示，以色列必须配合他推动协议的努力，否则将面临他的怒火。

By Wednesday afternoon in Sharm el-Sheikh, mediators felt they were finally getting close as they shuttled between Israeli and Hamas delegations.

到周三下午，在沙姆沙伊赫，调解人员在以色列与哈马斯代表团之间穿梭斡旋时，感到终于接近达成协议了。

Under pressure from Witkoff and Kushner, Israel was showing more willingness to accept a middle ground on the withdrawal. The Israeli negotiators came around to thinking that while they would effectively be giving up control over half of Gaza, they could keep the other half to pressure Hamas to make more concessions in future talks about postwar governance, Israeli and Arab officials said.

在维特科夫和库什纳的施压下，以色列展现出更多的灵活性，愿意在撤军问题上接受折衷方案。以色列与阿拉伯官员称，以方谈判代表逐渐意识到，虽然他们将实际放弃加沙一半的控制权，但可保留另一半领土，以便在后续关于战后治理的谈判中向哈马斯施压争取更多让步。

Al-Hayya, who had survived an Israeli assassination attempt weeks earlier in Doha, Qatar, said he needed to consult with other members of Hamas’ leadership. A convoy of black SUVs brought him and three other officials in the militant group back to their residence, Arab officials said.

数周前在多哈躲过以色列暗杀的哈亚表示，他需要与哈马斯领导层其他成员商议。阿拉伯官员称，一队黑色SUV车队载着他与另外三名哈马斯官员返回住地。

The Hamas officials were gone for so long that the Qatari prime minister instructed a top aide, Abdulla al-Slaiti, to chase them down at their residence, officials said.

据官员透露，哈马斯官员离开时间过长，以致卡塔尔首相指示高级助手阿卜杜拉·斯莱蒂前往其住地催促。

周一，在加沙地带迪尔巴拉赫，哈马斯武装人员将人质移交给红十字会代表。

Al-Hayya was only ready to inform mediators of Hamas’ decision at 10 p.m. — five hours after they left the talks.

直到晚上10点——也就是他们离开谈判现场五个小时后——哈亚才准备好向调解方通报哈马斯的决定。

By then, the Israeli, American, Turkish, Qatari and Egyptian teams had already dispersed to their villas at the Four Seasons in Sharm el-Sheikh, a sprawling beachside resort. The Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the Egyptian intelligence chief, Gen. Hassan Rashad, were sitting in Rashad’s villa when al-Hayya approached, officials said.

此时，以色列、美国、土耳其、卡塔尔和埃及的代表团成员已经散去，回到沙姆沙伊赫四季酒店各自的别墅。卡塔尔首相穆罕默德·本·阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·阿勒萨尼与埃及情报部门负责人哈桑·拉沙德正坐在后者的别墅中，哈亚走了进来。

Al-Hayya told the mediators that even though Hamas considered the deal unfair, its priority was to stop Israel’s bombings in Gaza, according to officials. Hamas, he said, still hoped the mediators would do everything they could to improve the deal for Palestinians.

据官员透露，哈亚告诉调解方，尽管哈马斯认为这项协议不公平，但当前的首要任务是停止以色列对加沙的轰炸。他还表示，哈马斯希望调解方能尽力为巴勒斯坦人争取更优厚的条款。

Though cloaked in dissatisfaction, al-Hayya’s response was nonetheless clearly a yes.

尽管言语中带着不满，但哈亚的回应无疑是同意的信号。

Some issues were still unresolved, including the names of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel, and mediators debated the merits of announcing the deal right away. But the mediators concluded that the outstanding issues were not deal-breakers, and said that Trump could issue a statement announcing an agreement.

仍有一些细节尚未敲定，包括以色列将释放的巴勒斯坦囚犯名单。调解方就是否立即宣布协议进行了讨论。最终他们认为这些悬而未决的问题并不构成阻碍，并表示特朗普可以发表声明宣布达成协议。

In Washington, Trump was hosting an event at the White House when Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed him a note. “Very close,” the note read. “We need you to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”

在华盛顿，特朗普正在白宫出席一场活动。国务卿马可·鲁比奥递给他一张字条，上面写着：“非常接近了。我们需要您尽快批准Truth Social的帖子，好让您率先宣布协议。”

埃及开罗新闻电视台的视频截图，显示10月9日卡塔尔首相阿勒萨尼与埃及情报情报部门负责人拉沙德将军在沙姆沙伊赫举行会谈。

Egyptian officials, sitting alongside an Israeli intelligence official, had finished making the final edits to the agreement’s text. Al Thani signed the agreement first, before approaching Dermer with an English copy and, separately, al-Hayya with an Arabic one, officials said.

埃及官员与以色列情报官员共同完成了协议文本的最终修订。据官员透露，阿勒萨尼率先在协议上签字，随后将英文副本递交德尔默，另将阿拉伯语副本送至哈亚。

At 1 a.m., one of the U.S. negotiators took a call from Trump and put him on speaker so the president could address the room. “It’s a big day,” the president said.

凌晨一点，一名美方谈判代表接通特朗普来电并打开免提，让总统直接对在场人员讲话。“这是个大日子，”总统说道。