President Biden today urged Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire offer from Israel a proposal that would see the release of surviving hostages being held by the militant group in exchange for a pause in the Gaza War the president referred to it as a road map to end the deadly conflict calling on Hamas leaders not to quote lose this moment the plan would release hostages in stages beginning with women the sick and elderly during a six- week ceasefire that could be extended to allow for more humanitarian Aid into Gaza and while negotiations play out for the release of additional hostages eventually also to end the war the president's remarks come as the Israeli military confirms its forces have moved into Central Rafah despite International backlash and anger from allies to scale back the offensive in the southern city after over the weekend an Israeli air strike killed dozens of displaced Palestinians Sheltering in a tent camp Melissa Rose Cooper spoke with new jerseyans Whose families were [Music] there what surprised me is um that we continue just to watch um we we keep saying um we want to help we keep saying that we want to send humanitarian Aid we keep saying that we need to do medical relief we' placed red lines that you know don't mean anything Dr Adam hamay expressing his disappointment Following last weekend's Israeli strike on a Palestinian tent camp in Rafa killing dozens hamay who owns this Plastic Surgery Clinic in Princeton just returned home after spending three weeks in Gaza providing humanitarian relief with the Palestinian American Medical Association I saw daily suffering I saw you know children that are burned and uh wounded much more than I've seen in the past um I saw people that were displaced from their homes uh I saw whole families that came in together um I've seen Mass casualties in the past where people would come in from injuries from different disasters or accidents but this was whole families coming in you know parents children uncles grandparents um all in the emergency room at the same time now hamay is joining other new jerseyans in calling on the US to do even more to help and Israel's continued strikes in Gaza despite the president's plea for a ceasefire today I want anybody who's watching to really put yourself in the shoes of somebody who's there displaced once again into a small camp with no food no access to water and bombs dropping on your head there's no defense there's nothing that you can do to save yourself it's just you're at the the mercy of somebody else and at any moment the tent next to you or the the the the family that you've known your whole life is now gone Sami Shaban has lost nearly 40 members of his family since the war in Gaza began he also has loved ones living in Rafa and fears for their safety every day thousands of people are dying and being killed with bombs that are being funded by our tax dollars we have people in our own country that do not have health care that are starving on the streets but we are sending over artillery and funding it and then it's dropping on my family and killing them our Administration needs to absolutely Stop The World Is Telling our country that we need to stop our support for these bombs that are dropping on kids frustration and anger is an understatement basma basharat is the Palestine education director at the Palestinian American Community Center she says the attack on Rafah is a strong reminder of the importance of speaking out for what's right so the organization has been encouraging people to make their voices heard at the polls we've been doing a uh phone banking uh push all week so we've had people coming in every day to the center we've had people going out to um local voting locations PACS been doing this a lot of other great Community organizer are doing this and we're just trying to tell people you know we have the voice and now more than ever we have to use it but even though lies continue to be lost Advocates like hamway are still holding on to hope that peace in Gaza will come soon for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]