Israel Defense Forces ✔

IDF: After 44 years, the remains of SFC Yehuda Yekutiel Katz have been brought to Israel The IDF, led by the Intelligence Directorate and the Mossad, has returned the remains of SFC Yehuda Yekutiel Katz to Israel and to his family, an Armored Corps soldier who fell in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11,1982, during the First Lebanon War, and had been classified as missing ever since. In an operation led by the Intelligence Directorate and through a joint intelligence effort with the Mossad, the remains of Yehuda were located and brought to Israel. Following their arrival in Israel, an identification process was conducted at the Military Rabbinate’s Fallen Soldiers Identification Center, in cooperation with the Medical Corps and Israel Police. Yehuda Katz’s family was kept informed over the years regarding the ongoing efforts to locate his remains and return him to Israel. Upon completion of the mission, the family was notified that their loved one had been returned. Sadly, Yehuda’s parents, Sarah and Yosef Katz, did not live to receive the news. His return to Israel was made possible through efforts based on precise intelligence, as part of a series of intelligence and operational activities that continued for more than four decades, since his fall in battle. Over the years, the Missing and Captive Persons Coordinators in the Prime Minister’s Office, operational units in the Mossad and Intelligence Directorate, alongside the ISA and the IDF Manpower Directorate worked together in close cooperation. This marks a long-awaited conclusion of the search efforts and follows previous operations in which SFC Zachary Baumel was returned to Israel in 2019 and SFC Tzvika Feldman was returned in 2025, thereby completing the mission to return all of the missing soldiers from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub. The completion of the mission was made possible thanks to years of research and intelligence-gathering efforts. The IDF and the Mossad extend their condolences to the family and continue to do the utmost to return all missing persons. From the remarks of IDF Chief of the General Staff LTG Eyal Zamir: “The return of Yehuda Katz , the last fallen soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, is a significant milestone for the IDF and the State of Israel. Decades have passed, but our obligation to those who fell has not changed – we will leave none of our people behind. Today, we are bringing Yehuda back to an Israeli burial, to his family, and to his homeland, bringing to conclusion, a painful story that began more than four decades ago. The memory of the soldiers who fell at Sultan Yacoub will forever remain part of the IDF’s legacy and our commitment to future generations.”