Biden urged to suspend weapons transfers to Israel; president to visit Baltimore after bridge collapse – live

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Biden administration calls for Israel's expansion of aid deliveries in Gaza to be 'fully and rapidly implemented'

Facing outrage over the killing of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, Israel yesterday announced it would reopen a border crossing with Gaza and allow more aid to flow through another port.

In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson welcomed that step, while reiterating that Joe Biden has conditioned further support for Israel’s war effort on its protection of civilians:

We welcome the steps announced by the Israeli government tonight at the President’s request following his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. These steps, including a commitment to open the Ashdod port for the direct delivery of assistance into Gaza, to open the Erez crossing for a new route for assistance to reach north Gaza, and to significantly increase deliveries from Jordan directly into Gaza, must now be fully and rapidly implemented.

Here’s more on how the expansion of aid deliveries into Gaza will work:

Top Democrats up pressure on Biden to change Israel policy ahead of visit to collapsed Baltimore bridge

Good morning, US politics blog readers. The fallout from Israel’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers is continuing, with several of Joe Biden’s top Senate allies pressuring him for a decisive change in course on supporting its invasion of Gaza. In an interview with Politico, Chris Van Hollen demanded the Biden administration suspend weapons transfers if Israel does not better protect civilians, while Elizabeth Warren called for the planned sale of F-15 fighter jets to the country to be canceled. Citing reports of famine in Gaza, independent senator Bernie Sanders, said yesterday “Israel should not be getting another nickel in military aid until these policies are fundamentally changed.” The mounting opposition could further complicate Congress’s approval of military aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other US allies, which has been deadlocked for months.

The two issues will intersect this afternoon, when Biden visits the site of the collapse Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. Van Hollen, who represents Maryland and will attend the event, says he plans to bring up his concerns over his policies towards Israel when he sees the president. Biden is expected to arrive in Baltimore at 12.30pm, and will tour the site and meet with the families of the six people killed when the collapse happened.

Here’s what else we expect today:

• Biden is reportedly planning a second attempt at student debt relief, after his initial proposal was blocked by the supreme court’s conservatives.

• Two judges in two of Donald Trump’s indictments yesterday rejected his attempts to dismiss the cases against him. One of them was the Florida classified documents case, which still has no trial date.

• The US economy added far more jobs than expected in March, as the labor market sees surprising growth.