On March 6th, Israel’s military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi conveyed to Israel Katz, the Defense minister, his choice to resign. Referring to the IDF's failure to defend themselves during the October 7 Hamas assault, Halevi stated that he ‘bears responsibility for the failure of the IDF on October 7’ and is leaving at a time when notable accomplishments have been achieved, and at a time when the IDF is set to release hostages. With his seat still firmly placed in power, Halevi has set out to tie up the loose ends regarding the Hamas attack, and is preparing the rest of the IDF for future threats – or so he claims.

The political faction and armed group Hamas made a successful attempt at assailing Israel on October 7th 2023, and killed close to 1200 people along with capturing over 250 as hostages (as per BBC). The violent assault led to Israel initiating an intense military campaign in Gaza as a form of retaliation, and there were mass casualties among the Palestinians. The conflict persisted for a very long period of time, as Hamas continued to shoot rockets into Israel, and was classified as a terrorist organization by multiple countries including the US, UK, and Israel.

In January 2025, both sides regarded the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees to be enough reason to agree to a truce.

Israel Frees 90 Palestinian Prisoners

After a long year of negotiations, Hamas finally released three hostages, and in conjunction, an Israeli spokesperson confirmed saying, ‘they are home’. In return, Israel released 90 Palestinian inmates on a recent Monday.

Israel’s Ofer prison near Ramallah was the site from which the detainees, all minors or women, were placed on a large bus following the Israeli release of hostages in Gaza. This occurred nearly seven hours after the hostage exchange. According to AP reports, 90 women and minors were released from Golan Prison. These were Israeli administered prisons, which is why the women and children had been excluded from the bus.

The detainees issued for release were suspected of throwing stones and other charges of security related offenses, even attempted manslaughter.

The Israeli military, at the same time, fired projectiles and moved journalists who had been positioned there to cover the release of Palestinian detainees, according to AP. The Palestinians had also been cautioned by the military against celebrating publicly.