The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
Security scare in US as car plows into parked vehicle in Biden’s motorcade
WILMINGTON, United States — A car crashed into a vehicle attached to Joe Biden’s motorcade on Sunday, with the security scare startling the US president as he left his campaign headquarters in Delaware.
The president and first lady Jill Biden were unharmed.
After a loud bang caused by a sedan slamming into an SUV positioned in a nearby intersection about 40 meters (130 feet) from Biden, security personnel rushed the president into a waiting vehicle and he was whisked away from the building in downtown Wilmington.
“Both the president and first lady are fine,” a White House official told an AFP reporter who witnessed the incident. Further questions were referred to the US Secret Service.
Pool reporters had gathered on the sidewalk outside the campaign offices — where the president and first lady had had dinner with staff — and had just finished shouting questions to Biden from a distance when they heard the crash and saw him with a surprised expression on his face.
Agents sprang into action, cornering the silver car with Delaware license plates and drawing weapons on the driver, who held his hands up.
Reporters were then quickly rounded up by staff to join the motorcade as it departed the rain-drenched scene.
“They’re evacuating, you guys gotta go,” a staffer told reporters as security personnel secured the area.
Biden arrived safely at his family home without further incident.
His schedule was otherwise unaffected by the incident.
The Secret Service did not immediately comment on the incident.
UN Security Council to vote on resolution demanding Israel, Hamas allow aid access to Gaza
The United Nations Security Council may vote as early as Monday on a new call for a ceasefire in Gaza and a demand that Israel and Hamas allow access to Gaza for humanitarian aid and to set up UN monitoring of the assistance delivered, Reuters reports.
The resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, demands access to the Hamas-ruled enclave via land, sea and air routes.
The draft text, Reuters reports, currently “calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The US is looking to amend the language on the cessation of hostilities, diplomats tells Reuters.
“We have engaged constructively and transparently throughout the entire process in an effort to unite around a product that will pass,” says a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The UAE knows exactly what can pass and what cannot — it is up to them if they want to get this done.”
Diplomats say the fate of the resolution depends on final negotiations between the US, which has veto power, and the UAE.
The US recently used its veto power to nix a resolution earlier this month, backed by almost all other Security Council members and many other nations, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The UN and other world bodies have warned of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza following over three months of war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 shock assault on Israel.
The report on the UNSC draft resolution demanding aid access to Gaza comes a day after videos circulating on social media showed gunmen, reportedly Hamas operatives, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Egypt, as aid convoys also started entering the Palestinian enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing for the first time since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
In the videos, masked and armed men can be seen sitting on top of the humanitarian supplies — usually food, water, medicine and fuel — as the trucks drive deeper into the Strip.
Hebrew-language media reported the men were affiliated with the Hamas terror group that rules the coastal enclave.
In October, the United Nations organization that works with Palestinian refugees and their descendants indicated that Hamas authorities in Gaza had stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for refugees, though the posts were later deleted.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to arrive in Israel today
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will arrive in Israel later Monday for a visit as Washington pushes Israel on civilian casualties in Gaza even as it provides vital military and diplomatic support.
British newspaper the Guardian reported on Sunday that Austin will announce a new maritime protection force during his visit to the Middle East, after repeated attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on commercial ships traversing the Red Sea.
The report said the naval task force will initially be called Operation Prosperity Guardian and work to ensure the Red Sea is safe for shipping.
The expected mission will be modeled on a joint US-led maritime force based in Bahrain, where Austin touched down on Sunday night.
He will be in Israel Monday and will also visit Qatar while in the region.