Palestinians want Israeli swapped for prisoners

GAZA, June 26 (Reuters) Families of Palestinians jailed in Israel demonstrated in Gaza today to demand that militants holding an Israeli soldier hostage trade him for the release of their relatives.

The call could complicate diplomatic efforts to free Corporal Gilad Shalit, 19, who was seized yesterday when gunmen from the ruling Hamas movement and other groups raided an army post near the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has ruled out freeing any of the 9,000 Palestinians in its jails and threatened a major military offensive in response to the militant attack. Prisoners jailed for fighting Israel are widely seen as heroes by Palestinians.

''Kidnap one soldier and free 100 prisoners,'' chanted parents, friends and relatives of prisoners at a rally in Gaza.

Mothers smiled as they held up pictures of their sons.

''I call on the fighters ... not to let the soldier go. Hold him by your hands and teeth and free our sons,'' said Ghalya Baroud, whose son Ibrahim, a member of Islamic Jihad's armed wing, has spent more than 20 years in an Israeli jail.

PRISONERS' FAMILIES The families slammed Palestinian and Egyptian efforts to free Shalit.

''Where were they when Palestinians were arrested? Where were they when innocent families were eliminated,'' Baroud said.

Hamas and other militant groups have said in the past they would kidnap Israelis to try to gain the release of comrades imprisoned in the Jewish state.

No group has claimed responsibility for holding the soldier nor have any demands been made.

''Kidnapping soldiers is the only way to free our prisoners,'' said Nabil al-Mansi, who was jailed for 11 years as a member of Hamas's armed wing and is now on a committee dedicated to the prisoners.

''It would be a stigma on the forehead of anyone who releases the soldier ... regardless of the price, even it were the heads of the Hamas leaders themselves,'' Mansi said at the rally.

Hamas, which is sworn to destroy Israel, took over the Palestinian government in March after winning January elections.

REUTERS SHR ND1604