Protesters at White House call for ceasefire in Gaza

STORY: Equipped with signs reading "Jews say: Ceasefire now” and “deescalate now, ceasefire now”, protesters urged U.S. President Joe Biden to listen to the Jewish community in the United States, deescalate the conflict and restrain Israeli aggression.

Police detained several people blocking entrances to the White House during the protest led by Jewish groups.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, after Hamas fighters burst across the barrier to Israel on Oct. 7, gunning down 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, in the deadliest day in Israel's 75-year-old history.

It has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total blockade and pounded it with unprecedented air strikes, and is widely expected to launch a ground assault. Gaza authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed there, around a quarter of them children, and more than 10,000 wounded are in hospitals desperately short of supplies.