Multiple Explosions Reported on Roosevelt Island in New York City’s East River

New York City firefighters responded after the reports of the explosions and ground shaking on the 580 block of Main Street, just south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge and Tram, before 6am.

The explosions caused power outages on Roosevelt Island, abc7 reports.

Roosevelt Island is located in New York City’s East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/multiple-explosions-reported-roosevelt-island/

Israel Assassinates Deputy Head Of Hamas In Drone Attack On Beirut Suburb

Update (1215ET): Hamas has now officially confirmed the death of high-ranking political official Saleh al-Arouri. There was previous confirmation through various sources, including in Israeli media, yet the IDF has yet to take responsibility for the attack:

Hamas’s deputy leader abroad Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen reports.

…Based in Lebanon, al-Arouri, 57, was deputy head of the terror group’s political bureau and considered the de facto leader of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank.

Israeli intelligence officials believe that al-Arouri also helped plan the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens — Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel — as well as numerous other attacks.

He had served several terms in Israeli jails, and was released in March 2010 as part of efforts to reach a larger prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit, an IDF corporal kidnapped by Hamas in 2006

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-conducts-large-uav-strike-against-beirut-suburb-multiple-dead-injured

New Jersey Mayor Boots Bussed Migrants Over 'Major Security Risk' While Biden Busted Giving Chinese Illegals Huge Break

Edison, New Jersey's Democrat Mayor Sam Joshi (D) says he turned a bus full of illegal migrants around because there was no way for local police to know "if any of those 40 individuals were carrying weapons," adding that "they couldn’t be identified."

According to Joshi, this poses "a major security risk. It’s a health risk. And we’re just not going to tolerate that."

Joshi instead plans to send migrants back to the border as opposed to burdening other mayors, Breitbart reports.

WABC New Jersey Reporter Toni Yates stated, “The town of Edison, however, has its own answer: A charter bus to send migrants back to the southern border. The bus that arrived the other night was simply ordered to leave.”

She then played a clip of Joshi saying, “Edison Township Police officers did not know if any of those 40 individuals were carrying weapons, they couldn’t be identified. And that is a major problem. That’s a major security risk. It’s a health risk. And we’re just not going to tolerate that.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller reported on Tuesday that the Biden administration 'drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants' in April of 2023, according to a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) email leaked to the outlet.

The April 2023 email, which was sent by a CBP supervisor to a “master list” of about 500 Border Patrol agents, instructs CBP officials to radically reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese migrants apprehended after illegally crossing into the country from roughly 40 to just five. The “headquarters guidance” came as border agents were overwhelmed with near-record numbers of illegal crossings.

"This policy change has accelerated the time it takes to process Chinese illegal immigrants — this doesn’t make America safer," said J.J. Carrell, a retired CBP deputy patrol agent in charge, in a statement to the Caller. "The final result is that dangerous Chinese illegal immigrants will still be released into the U.S."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-jersey-mayor-boots-bussed-migrants-over-major-security-risk-while-biden-busted-giving

Israel rejects hostage deal with Hamas – media

The proposal involved prisoner swaps and a sustainable end to the hostilities, Axios reports

Israel has rejected a new hostage deal proposed by the Palestinian armed group Hamas that would have established a long-term ceasefire, with the gradual withdrawal of West Jerusalem’s troops from Gaza, Axios reported on Monday, citing sources.

The proposal was made to Israel through Qatari and Egyptian mediators on Sunday, according to two Israeli officials and another source familiar with the matter.

Hamas reportedly offered to end the hostilities in three stages. Each one is said to include a pause in the fighting for more than a month in exchange for the release of hostages held by the group. In the first stage, Israel would have started withdrawing its forces from Gaza in exchange for the freeing of around 40 hostages. The deal would have also likely involved West Jerusalem releasing an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners, according to the report.

Under the terms of the reported deal, both sides would have ended the war, which has raged since early October, once the third stage is implemented, while Hamas would release captured Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli war cabinet discussed the proposal, but rejected it as unacceptable, according to the article. One Israeli official told Axios that the overture was “totally off base and we asked the mediators to try and produce a more acceptable proposal.” Nevertheless, the outlet’s sources said the proposal means that Hamas is ready to negotiate.

A Hamas delegation went to Cairo in late December to discuss an Egyptian proposal to end the hostilities. Several media reports indicated that, in addition to an extendable ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners, it also included the establishment of a technocratic government in the enclave following a dialogue with all Palestinian factions.

On October 7, Hamas took around 240 Israelis hostage. Since then, the sides have managed to negotiate the release of around 100 captives held in Gaza in exchange for West Jerusalem freeing 240 Palestinians, while agreeing to a week-long ceasefire. The truce collapsed as the two sides accused each other of violating the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country will continue its military operation against Hamas until the group is defeated, Gaza is completely “demilitarized,” and its inhabitants “deradicalized.”

The Hamas-Israel conflict has so far claimed the lives of nearly 22,000 Palestinians and more than 1,100 Israelis.

https://www.rt.com/news/590025-israel-rejects-hostage-deal-hamas/