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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After 44 Years, Israel Brings Home Sgt. Yehuda Katz, Completing Decades-Long Mission to Recover All Missing From the Battle of Sultan Yaakov
By: Fern Sidman In a moment of profound national emotion that closed one of the most enduring chapters in Israel’s military history, the remains of Staff Sgt. Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, an armored corps soldier who had been listed as missing in action since the Battle of Sultan Yaakov during the First Lebanon War in 1982, have finally been returned to Israel after 44 years. As reported on Tuesday by Israel National News, the extraordinary operation…
The secret service of Mossad and the Israeli army have recovered the remains of Jehuda Katz. It is the last of three soldiers missing in Lebanon since 1982 to be returned to Israel.
Jehuda Katz fell in the battle of Sultan Jakub. In 1982 it was. Now the body of the soldier was transferred to Israel.
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