- Israel repatriated remains of Sgt First Class Yehuda Katz, killed in Lebanon in 1982, in a joint operation with the Mossad.
- Katz was the last Israeli soldier declared missing from the 1982 Sultan Yacoub battle against Syrian forces.
- Military said the return followed accurate intelligence gathered over more than four decades; his body location was not disclosed.
- Netanyahu and President Herzog hailed efforts, calling the recovery closure for families; remains were identified at the military rabbinate institute.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had repatriated the remains of Sgt First Class Yehuda Katz, a soldier killed in Lebanon 44 years ago, in a joint operation with the Mossad intelligence agency.
Katz was the last Israeli soldier declared missing in the Sultan Yacoub battle against Syrian forces in eastern Lebanon in 1982.
“His return to Israel was made possible through efforts based on accurate intelligence… that lasted more than four decades,” the military said in a statement. It is not clear where his body was found.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the security forces and said that, “for many years, I approved numerous clandestine operations to locate the missing soldiers of Sultan Yacoub. I promised their families that we would never stop working to bring them home”.
In a separate statement, President Isaac Herzog said “the circle that remained an open and bleeding wound from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub is finally closed,” and that he had kept a photograph of Yehuda Katz hanging in his office as “a daily reminder of our sacred duty to bring our sons home and leave no one behind”.
Katz’s remains were brought to Israel and identified at an institute for the identification of fallen soldiers under the military rabbinate, the military said.
Three Israeli soldiers had been missing for decades after the Sultan Yacoub battle. In 2019, the military announced the repatriation of the remains of Sgt First Class Zachariah Baumel, while in May 2025 it said it had recovered the body of Sgt First Class Tzvika Feldman “in the heart of Syria”.
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