Lansing area peace activists gather at Grand River Ave. and Abbott to protest the on-going Israeli operations against the Gaza. (photo by Todd A. Heywood)

Lansing area peace activists gather at Grand River Avenue and Abbott to protest the ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza. (photo by Todd A. Heywood)

EAST LANSING — With temperatures hovering at 24 degrees, a group of Lansing-area peace activists gathered in the median on Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing Thursday night to protest the continued Israeli assault on Gaza. Holding signs reading “cease fire,” and “peace for Israel and Gaza,” the activists gathered to send their public outrage at the conflict that has been going on for 13 days, killing hundreds and wounding thousands.

Mary Hanna, operations manager at the Michigan Peace Team and an organizer of the event, said she was appalled to learn that the U.S. Congress was preparing to pass a resolution supporting the Israeli actions, even as the United Nations was announced it was pulling all humanitarian aide workers from Gaza following an incident in which two U.N. aide workers were killed by an Israeli tank shell.