Jerusalem, June 30: An Israeli soldier was killed in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.

In a statement, the military said Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, of the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion of the 401st Brigade, “fell during combat,” Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel’s state-owned Kan TV reported that Rosenfeld was killed by an explosive device in Jabalia, in an area where the military had begun demolishing buildings in preparation for constructing outposts as part of a planned buffer zone in northern Gaza.

Since the beginning of June, 21 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, bringing the military’s death toll to 880 since October 2023, according to official figures.

Earlier on Sunday, Palestinian sources reported heavy bombardments in northern Gaza, with at least 88 people killed and 365 wounded in Israeli attacks, according to Gaza health authorities.

The strikes came as the Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings, calling on residents of Gaza City and Jabalia to move immediately toward the al-Mawasi area.

Meanwhile, Gaza health authorities said on Sunday that the Palestinian death toll from Israeli military operations since October 2023 had risen to at least 56,500.

Srinagar: With only three days left for the start of the Amarnath Yatra, the final phase of security preparations has been completed. Thousands of security personnel have been deployed and in the last few days, mock drills have been conducted at several places to identify the loopholes in the arrangements. According to officials, this time the security arrangements are more comprehensive, technical and coordinated than ever before. More than 10 Superintendents of Police (SP), 15 Deputy Superintendents (DySP) and hundreds of paramilitary forces and policemen have been deployed on the Yatra route to ensure smooth and safe pilgrimage.

Anti-terrorism drive intensifies

The Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and CRPF have jointly launched aggressive counter-terrorism operations in Anantnag district. According to senior officers, more than 20 search operations are being conducted daily along the Yatra route and the surrounding forests. A senior officer said, “We cannot take any risk. Human and technical surveillance is going on along every inch of the route. All potential threats have already been neutralised.”

Monitoring by Home Ministry, deployment of central forces

The Union Home Ministry is keeping a close watch on the preparations for the Yatra. Central forces like BSF, ITBP and SSB have been deployed in sensitive areas, especially in high altitudes and forest areas. Officials said that this year unprecedented coordination is being seen between security and civil agencies. Travelers have been requested to pre-register, carry valid identity cards and follow the specified guidelines.

Yatra will start from July 3, unprecedented security cover

The annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave temple, located at an altitude of 3,880 meters, will begin from July 3. Tight security arrangements have been implemented on both the routes – Pahalgam in Anantnag and Baltal in Ganderbal. The Pahalgam route has been divided into 17 zones and 51 sub-zones and special officers, quick reaction teams (QRT), mountain rescue teams, anti-sabotage teams and traffic controllers have been deployed in each zone. The preparations have been checked through mock drills.

Emergency services, disaster management, medical teams and traffic police participated in the mock drill conducted recently. Scenarios like natural disaster, terrorist attack and health crisis were practiced in the drill, so that coordination and quick response capability could be tested among all the agencies. Along with this, there was an amazing integration of technology and logistics.

The administration has streamlined water, electricity, medical and sanitation facilities at all halts. Base camps and langars have been made ready for use after hygiene inspection. For the first time this year, technologies like high-definition CCTV, drone surveillance, satellite tracking, and AI-based facial recognition system have been incorporated in the security system. Special monitoring centres have also been set up.

Lucknow, June 28: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that it was trying to usurp land in every district of the state.

Addressing a press conference, Yadav said the BJP was misusing bulldozers and government machinery, with the active support of party workers and the local administration, to forcibly acquire land.

He particularly pointed to Gorakhpur, the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, claiming irregularities in land registration there.

“The people of Gorakhpur should ask in whose name the maximum number of registries have been done,” Yadav said.

“If the truth about Gorakhpur comes out, the government will have to build a custody corridor there instead of passing on any inheritance. Compensation for land and houses is not being given fairly. The administration is pressuring locals into signing consent papers, using the police to instill fear, just so they don’t have to pay proper compensation,” Akhilesh Yadav alleged.

Accusing the government of cheating locals, he added, “People lost land in Ayodhya, came close to losing it in Banaras, and now Gorakhpur is next. It’s not just Gorakhpur’s land that’s being targeted — this mindset was also visible in Lucknow. Even their own advisor had to resign. I don’t know who he was colluding with — those he aligned with have now fled the country.”

Yadav also took aim at the RSS, criticising its demand to remove the words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ from the Preamble of the Constitution.

“Those who oppose the reservation don’t say it openly. Instead, they target the concepts of secularism and socialism. Their opposition to reservation is masked in these attacks,” he said.

Yadav accused the BJP and its ideological allies of trying to polarise voters. “They want to get votes by spreading hatred,” he alleged.