After 44 Years: IDF Locates Remains of Yehuda Katz, Who Went Missing During First Lebanon War
The identification ends a 44-year search for the last missing soldier from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, officials said.
- On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed it located and identified the remains of Sergeant Major Yehuda Katz, the last missing soldier from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, ending a 44-year search.
- During the First Lebanon War, the 1982 battle resulted in six soldiers declared missing after Syrian forces engaged Israeli troops in fierce combat lasting eight hours.
- Following earlier recovery efforts, Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel was identified in 2019 and Staff Sergeant Zvi Feldman returned in 2025, leaving Katz as the final soldier missing from the engagement.
- IDF representatives informed the family of the findings, closing one of the military's longest-running missing-in-action cases after decades of intelligence gathering and recovery efforts.
- The battle remains a subject of military and public debate due to heavy losses and intelligence failures, including an aerial photograph of Syrian positions that never reached ground troops.
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IDF investigating whether remains in Syria belong to IDF soldier killed in 1982
If Katz's body has indeed been found, only two other Israeli soldiers will remain missing. Katz is the last missing Israeli from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in June 1982, considered one of the most violent battles of the First Lebanon War
The Israeli army announced that the remains of soldier Yehuda Katz, who disappeared during the 1982 war in Lebanon, have been found and brought to Israel. This ends the 44-year search for Katz.
Remains of missing IDF soldier recovered after 44 years
Yehuda Katz was declared missing after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the 1982 Lebanon war. By David Rosenberg, World Israel News The remains of IDF soldier Yehuda Katz, the last serviceman still missing from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, have been located and returned to Israel, closing one of the longest-running missing-soldier cases in the country’s history. The IDF informed Katz’s siblings, Avi and Parachia, of the recovery Tuesday m…
The man had fallen in the Lebanon War. Media reports that relatives had been informed by the Israeli army that his body had been found.
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