Lt. Col. Nir Yafeh, head of the Identification and Burial Branch, announced Friday that the last missing soldier from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, Staff Sgt. Yehuda Katz, has been identified and prepared for burial. Katz was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives, completing the recovery of all soldiers missing from that battle.
Staff Sgt. Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, the last missing soldier from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Friday, after the IDF Military Rabbinate confirmed the identification of his remains. The funeral brought to a close a 44-year chapter in Israel's national memory. Lt. Col. Nir Yafeh, head of the Identification and Burial Branch, announced on Friday that Katz had been identified and prepared for burial, and noted that 'all the missing soldiers of the Battle of Sultan Yacoub have been brought to burial.'
The identification and burial follow a series of developments first reported by The Zioneer in recent days. On Tuesday, August 18, the IDF confirmed that Katz's remains had been returned to Israel and formally identified. Funeral arrangements were subsequently announced, and on Friday the procession departed from Yeshivat Kerem b'Yavne—where Katz had studied—for the Mount of Olives. Thousands attended the funeral, which was also marked by remarks from Reserve Major General Uzi Dayan, who recalled that the Syrian authorities had refused for years to discuss the return of Katz's remains, and called on Syria to also return the body of spy Eli Cohen.
The Battle of Sultan Yacoub, fought on June 11, 1982, during the First Lebanon War, saw heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Syrian troops. Three tank crew members were declared missing: Katz, Sgt. Zacharia Baumel, and Sgt. Zvi Feldman. As The Zioneer has reported, Baumel's remains were recovered and buried in 2019, and Feldman's in 2025. Katz's remains were recovered in a multi-year operation by the IDF Intelligence Directorate and the Mossad.
With Katz's identification and burial, all three missing soldiers from the battle have been brought home. The case of Eli Cohen, mentioned during the funeral by Uzn Dayan as still unresolved, remains a separate issue of return of Israeli remains held by Syria. The completion of the Sultan Yacoub account marks the fulfillment of a long-standing national commitment to bring every soldier to burial in Israel.
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Source and signal
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