Good evening. I'm John Yang. Just 12 hours before the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is to go into effect,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would not go forward until Hamas made good on its

agreement to provide a list of the hostages they're going to release. Netanyahu also said that

Israel could resume fighting if negotiations over future steps

faltered, a position he said, that had the support of President-elect Trump.

As soon as he was elected, President Trump engaged in the mission of freeing hostages.

He spoke with me on Wednesday evening and welcomed the agreement and rightly

emphasized that the first step of the agreement is a temporary ceasefire. We reserve the

right to return to war, if necessary, with the backing of the United States.

Even as Netanyahu spoke, the Israeli military prepared to receive hostages and to deliver

much-needed aid to Gaza devastated by 15 months of war.

Anshul Pfeffer is the Israel correspondent for the economist.

Mr. Pfeffer, Netanyahu is saying he can't move forward without this list from Hamas.

Is this just a hiccup or is this something more serious?

Well, based on what we saw back in November 23, when we had the previous large release of hostages,

this is the kind of perhaps technical glitch or a last-minute attempt by Hamas to exert some kind of psychological warfare on the Israeli public.

But usually the lists are handed in on time.

And as we saw back then in, I think once the deal has been signed,

we will start seeing hopefully tomorrow hostages being released and the ceasefire,

at least the first stage of the ceasefire, taking place.

Walk us through this. You say the first stage. It's supposed to have several phases.

What's supposed to happen in this first phase that's supposed to begin tomorrow?

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