Israel recovered the remains of fallen soldier Yehuda Katz overnight Monday, 44 years after he was killed during the First Lebanon War, the military confirmed Tuesday.

With no proof of his death emerging over the years, his family had refused to accept the military’s assessment that Katz had been killed in battle. The military did not offer any details on the operation, including where it took place. 

Background: Katz was one of three soldiers declared missing following the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The remains of Zachary Baumel were recovered in 2019 with Russia's help, and Zvi Feldman's remains were recovered in 2025 in a covert Mossad operation.

The Battle of Sultan Yacoub took place at the beginning of the First Lebanon War in June 1982 and is considered one of its fiercest battles. Under President Hafez al-Assad, the Syrian military entered Lebanon in 1976 and stayed until 2005. When an Israeli armored unit was ambushed, 20 soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded. Six soldiers were initially declared missing, but in the following days, it was discovered that two had been taken prisoner and one had been killed. The two prisoners and the body of the third soldier, Zohar Lifshitz, were returned to Israel in a 1984 prisoner exchange with Syria.

Israel’s security agencies made extensive efforts over the years to determine the fate of the three missing soldiers, without success. Military intelligence estimated that Palestinian elements in Syria affiliated with the PLO and its commander, Abu Jihad, who was assassinated by an Israeli commando raid in Tunis in 1988, had information about Katz’s whereabouts.

Know more: Katz’s family traveled abroad extensively for years, meeting with world leaders and any contacts that might have information about his fate. In 2004, the military’s Chief Rabbinate declared the three missing soldiers “fallen soldiers whose place of burial is unknown,” but their families campaigned against the designation. Without proof of his death, Katz’s family insisted over the years that he could still be alive and held captive in Lebanon or in Syria. His mother died in 2011 and his father in 2014.

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