After 44 years, the remains of Sgt. Maj. Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, an IDF armored corps soldier who fell during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11, 1982, during the First Lebanon War, have been returned to Israel and his family. In an operation led by IDF Intelligence and a joint effort with the Mossad, Katz’s remains were located and brought back to Israel. Following their return, an identification process was conducted at the Military Rabbinate’s identification center in cooperation with the IDF Medical Corps and Israel Police.
Katz’s family had been kept informed over the years about the continuing efforts to locate him and bring him home. With the mission now complete, his family was informed that their loved one had finally been returned. Tragically, Katz’s parents, Sarah and Yosef, did not live to receive the news.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to his return: “For many years, I authorized numerous covert operations to locate those missing from Sultan Yacoub. I promised their families that we would never stop working to bring them home. Today, all of us—the entire people of Israel—embrace the Katz family. His beloved parents, Sarah and Yosef, of blessed memory, never stopped working to locate him and bring him home, and sadly, they have already passed away. We are returning dear Yehuda to you, his siblings Avi and Perachia—to you and to the soil of the Land of Israel that he loved so deeply.”
Katz was born in Ramat Gan to Yosef and Sarah Katz, Holocaust survivors. He studied at the Nehalim Yeshiva and later at the Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva under Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht. From childhood, he demonstrated a particular talent for his studies, especially Jewish religious studies.
Yehuda served as a soldier in the IDF Armored Corps. When the First Lebanon War broke out, he joined his comrades and fought in a tank alongside Lt. Zohar Lifshitz, the tank’s commander. On June 11, 1982, Katz and his comrades were sent into the Battle of Sultan Yacoub—just 10 days before he was scheduled to complete his military service.
Lifshitz was killed in the battle, and his body was returned in a prisoner exchange with Syria on July 1, 1984. Katz, Zachary Baumel and Zvi Feldman remained classified as missing from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub for decades. Following Katz’s disappearance, the IDF and his family pursued numerous avenues in an effort to uncover information about his fate.
According to IDF Intelligence, ‘Palestinian’ elements in Syria held the missing soldiers and information concerning their fate under the direction of the PLO and its then-leader Yasser Arafat. Arafat, together with his military deputy Abu Jihad, allegedly led an effort of concealment and deception intended to prevent Israel from discovering what had happened to Katz.
Forty-four years after Yehuda Katz disappeared into the fog of battle, Israel has finally brought its soldier home.