Israeli protesters demand cease-fire, prisoner exchange

TEL AVIV

A group of Israeli protesters gathered Saturday near the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv to demand a cease-fire and prisoner swap deal.

Families of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip demonstrate every week in Tel Aviv, demanding the safe release of their relatives in the Gaza Strip, which has been under heavy bombardment for 36 straight days.

Demonstrators chanted slogans expressing their demands.

They shouted in English and Hebrew: "Cease-fire as soon as possible", "Prisoner exchange right now" and "There are no winners in war. They carried banners that read: "Bombing hospitals, cutting off water, starving, murdering children. These are not the right to defend oneself."

The Palestinian group, Hamas, offered a prisoner swap deal to free all hostages in the Gaza Strip in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails, including women and children.

But the Israeli government opted to continue its operation in the Strip to free the hostages held by Hamas and other groups.