Netanyahu Visits Family of Recovered 1982 Soldier

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to the family home of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Yekutiel Katz on Wednesday, offering condolences to the family of the last soldier missing from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub — a visit that Israel National News reported left him telling relatives he arrived to offer condolences at the family home of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, the last missing soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, whose remains were brought to Israel in a special operation by the IDF and the Mossad.

According to Israel National News, the prime minister told the family members that he is deeply moved, together with the entire nation of Israel, by the return of Yehuda, and expressed sorrow that his parents, Sarah and Yosef, did not live to see this moment. The outlet reported that the family described Katz's inspiring character, calling him a Torah scholar, a man of values, and a professional and devoted fighter.

The recovery, first announced by the military last week, closed a 44-year search that began in the chaos of the First Lebanon War. The Times of Israel reported that the battle, 44 years ago, was a skirmish between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrian army in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley that claimed the lives of 21 Israeli servicemen and injured more than 30. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told Katz's family, as quoted by the Times of Israel, that "After 44 years, the Battle of Sultan Yacoub has come to an end," adding "this is a special day for me, both as chief of the general staff and as a soldier of the Armored Corps". Zamir further said, per the outlet, that "From the day I enlisted in the Armored Corps, I was raised on the legacy of that battle and on the moral commitment to bring all of our missing home".

Katz was one of three soldiers unaccounted for after the battle. JNS reported that the remains of the other two, Sgt. Zachary Baumel and Sgt. Zvi Feldman, were recovered in 2019 and 2025, respectively. Netanyahu, in a statement cited by JNS, said that over the years he has promised their families that Jerusalem would never stop working to bring them home, and he noted that Katz's parents, Sarah and Yosef, never stopped working to locate their missing son, "but sadly, they have since passed away". Addressing Katz's surviving siblings directly, Netanyahu said, according to JNS, "We return your beloved Yehuda—to you and to the soil of the Land of Israel, which he loved so dearly."

Ynet reported that Netanyahu also thanked the operatives behind the effort, noting he thanked the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet and the coordinator for captives and missing persons, and that the IDF itself called the recovery "closure," saying it joins previous operations in which Baumel was returned in 2019 and Feldman in 2025, completing the mission to return all those missing from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.

Not every reaction was uncomplicated triumph. The Jerusalem Post reported that Katz's nephew, Yochai Heiman, struck a cautious note, saying his family had received information on the findings but will not draw conclusions until they independently verify the details, adding, "In our experience, you cannot trust a blind person." That skepticism, however, did little to dampen the broader outpouring of national sentiment. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared, per the Jerusalem Post, that "There is no other nation or state in the world that has, for so many years, refused to give up and bring its missing soldiers to eternal rest in the grave of Israel." A veteran of the battle, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, said the recovery meant "the circle of the great effort to save the armored battalion that was caught in a Syrian ambush has closed. No one is left behind."

The episode is the latest demonstration of Israel's long-standing doctrine of sparing no resource to recover its fallen, a commitment that has repeatedly driven the IDF's operations in and around Lebanon in recent years. Katz's remains will now receive a full Jewish burial, VINnews reported, noting his family recalled one of his own sayings: "A challenging question is better than a flimsy explanation."