Israel Recovers Last Missing Soldier From 1982 Battle

The Israel Defense Forces and the Mossad recovered the remains of Sergeant First Class Yehuda Yekutiel Katz during a covert overnight operation in Lebanon on August 18, 2026. Katz, an Armored Corps tank gunner, went missing on June 11, 1982, after Israeli forces were trapped by Syrian troops during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the Bekaa Valley.

The recovery followed four decades of intelligence gathering and clandestine operations involving Military Intelligence, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet. Following the operation, the Military Rabbinate’s Center for the Identification of Fallen, the Medical Corps, and the Israel Police identified the remains. This repatriation concludes a 44-year national effort to account for all soldiers missing from that engagement, following the returns of Zachary Baumel in 2019 and Zvi Feldman in 2025.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog characterized the return as the fulfillment of a sacred duty. Netanyahu stated he had approved numerous clandestine operations over the years to locate the missing soldiers of Sultan Yacoub. While this specific case is closed, the military continues to search for other missing servicemen, including Lt. Col. Ron Arad, who disappeared over Lebanon in 1986, and Sgt. Guy Hever, who vanished from the Golan Heights in 1997.