Rep. Watson Coleman Hosts Press Conference After Israel Breaks Ceasefire, Resumes Bombing Gaza

 

Today, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) hosted a press conference to call attention to the renewed Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to abandon the ceasefire negotiated by the United States earlier this year. Rep. Watson Coleman was joined by Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Rep. Greg Casar (TX-35), Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Dr. Adam Hamawy, a US Army veteran and humanitarian who has volunteered medical aid in Gaza; Sami Shaban, a former Franklin Township Board of Education member who has lost 40 family members in Gaza; and Selaedin Maksut, Executive Director of CAIR- NJ.

 

 

In breaking the ceasefire, Israel launched missile strikes that killed over 400 Palestinians. Among them are Mr. Shaban's cousin and her newborn son. The Palestinian death toll in this newly-resumed war recently reached 50,000 documented deaths, mostly made up of women and children. However, this is likely an undercount, as countless bodies remain buried under the rubble.

 

The press conference today is meant to call attention to the renewed bombing and raise public pressure on both the White House and the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table to secure a lasting peace and return of the hostages.

 

“We must stop fueling this war,” said Rep. Watson Coleman. “The United States is not merely an observer in this tragedy - we are an active participant. We have supplied the weapons that have flattened neighborhoods, wiped out entire generations of families, and enabled Netanyahu’s relentless assault. The United States has an obligation to identify a red line and hold our allies accountable when they behave in a way that threatens every person’s right to peace and self-determination. We cannot claim to support a ceasefire while providing Prime Minister Netanyahu with the fire that has engulfed Gaza. There must be an arms embargo. If we truly believe in human rights and the dignity of all people, we must stop arming the very forces that are carrying out these atrocities.

 

"What we are seeing in Gaza is another heartbreaking unconscionable escalation," said Congressional Progressive Caucus Deputy Chair, Congresswoman Omar. "Netanyahu has shattered the ceasefire agreement, indiscriminately killing hundreds in Gaza and putting the lives of hostages at risk. We know that Netanyahu has a reckless disregard for civilian lives. We know that Netanyahu has actively sabotaged hostage deals. We know Netanyahu wants to continue committing war crimes with the full backing of the United States. How can we expect Netanyahu's government to stop the mass killings of civilians if we supply the weapons used to carry it out? While our government has allowed the Israeli government to kill innocent civilians with impunity, it hurts our standing with the world with every passing day." 

 

"With the ceasefire, we finally were at a point where 600 trucks a day were bringing food and water and medicine and fuel and things that the people of Gaza needed to survive. Then Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli government decided to end the ceasefire agreement that had brought peace to the region and restart the bombing,” said Rep. Pocan. “Now 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza. That's over 2% of the population. Seventy percent have been verified to be women and children. We need more leaders to speak out against what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing and to speak against additional arms sales that is going to be used against a population that has nowhere to go and is literally starving to death."

 

"Thank you, Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, for holding this press conference to renew our collective call for a ceasefire. Not tomorrow, not the next day, not next year, but right now," said Rep. Ramirez. "On March 18th, 2025, Israel resumed the war in full force and abandoned phase two of the ceasefire agreement that finally, finally, would have returned the more than 50 Israeli and American hostages still held and stopped the killing of Palestinian lives. At this precise moment, we have to stand in the face of unchecked escalation, regional war, and the forced displacement of the Palestinian People."

 

“After cutting Gazans off from food and from medicine for weeks, Prime Minister Netanyahu has broken the bilateral ceasefire that was saving lives. As a result of his horrific decisions, more innocent people are being killed every single day,” said Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair, Congressman Greg Casar. “Enough is enough. For the safety of innocent people in Gaza, for the safety of civilian Israelis who want the killing to stop, for the safety of people around the world who deserve a stable region, the United States must stop sending bombs to the Netanyahu government and the ceasefire must be reinstated.”

 

"What we are witnessing in Gaza is devastating; the images we've seen the past week are gut-wrenching, and we cannot look away," said Rep. Pressley. "The limp bodies of babies and toddlers, the shrieks of fathers frantically holding their dead children, the cries of children - their small hands digging through rubble for their mothers, starvation, dehydration, genocide. The suffering is unimaginable. Let's be clear: Donald Trump's dangerous rhetoric has only fueled this violence. He has openly advocated for the ethnic cleansing and permanent displacement of Palestinians and talked about turning Gaza into a US-controlled real estate project. This is not diplomacy; this is a genocide."

 

In addition to the Members of Congress, Rep. Watson Coleman was joined by 12th District constituents who have been directly impacted by the war. 

 

Sami Shaban, a former Franklin Township Board of Education member, has lost 40 family members in Gaza. “As of last week, 41 members of my family have been killed,” said Shaban. “Just last week, my cousin Farah, a brilliant young woman who dreamed of becoming a doctor to heal wounded Palestinian children, was killed alongside her 10-month-old son while sheltering in a school after her home was destroyed. The genocide and deliberate starvation of Palestinians must end now - the world must act to open Gaza to unrestricted humanitarian aid without delay.”

 

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a surgeon and retired US Army Lt Colonel, who has twice traveled to Gaza to provide aid to injured civilians, shared, “I want every American to understand that what’s happening abroad is eroding our freedoms here at home. We are being punished for speaking out, first for criticizing a foreign government, now for criticizing our own. This strikes at the heart of who we are. I call on every American to stand up, speak out, and refuse to support any leader who silences us or puts foreign interests ahead of American values. Stop the weapons. Stop the genocide.”

 

“The United States has the power and the moral responsibility to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” said Selaedin Maksut, Executive Director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Instead, our government continues to send weapons while shielding Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government from accountability as it commits what experts around the world have described as genocide. In New Jersey, our CAIR office has worked tirelessly with our allies, aggressively urging our elected leaders to do what’s right. And we will not stop. In these last few days of Ramadan, we pray that God restores peace and justice to the region.”