Yehuda Katz
Staff Sergeant Yehuda Katz was an IDF tank gunner who went missing during the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon. After 44 years of uncertainty, his remains were recovered and identified in August 2026, bringing a definitive close to one of Israel's most enduring missing-person cases.
Yehuda Katz was a student at Yeshivat Kerem b'Yavne and a tank gunner in the IDF's 362nd Battalion during the First Lebanon War. On June 11, 1982, his unit became embroiled in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, a fierce engagement against Syrian forces that resulted in significant Israeli casualties and several missing soldiers. For over four decades, Katz was classified as missing in action, his fate a subject of intense intelligence efforts and diplomatic negotiations.
The saga of the Sultan Yacoub missing personnel remained a wound in the Israeli national consciousness for 44 years. Katz was the last of the three primary missing soldiers from his tank crew to be brought home. His comrades, Zacharia Baumel and Zvi Feldman, were recovered in 2019 and 2025, respectively. The recovery of Katz's remains in August 2026 was the culmination of a multi-year operation led by the IDF Intelligence Directorate (Aman) and the Mossad, utilizing advanced research and intelligence coordination.
On Friday, August 21, 2026, Katz was finally laid to rest at the Mount of Olives (Har HaZeitim) in Jerusalem. The funeral procession, which began at his former yeshiva, was attended by military leaders and state officials. During the ceremony, Reserve Major General Uzi Dayan, who had previously led negotiations with Syria, noted that Syrian authorities had long refused to discuss Katz's remains. The identification and burial of Yehuda Katz represent the fulfillment of the IDF's commitment to leave no soldier behind, providing finality to his family and the State of Israel regarding the events of Sultan Yacoub.