Occupation claims recovery of body of soldier missing since Sultan Yacoub battle

The Israeli occupation army claimed to have recovered the body of soldier Yehuda Katz, missing since the 1982 Sultan Yacoub battle, after finding it in Lebanon. Netanyahu announced the operation was special, leaving Katz as the last of the three soldiers missing from the battle whose bodies Israel has recovered, after Baumel (2019) and Feldman (2025).

The Israeli occupation army claimed on Tuesday to have transferred the body of soldier Yehuda Katz to "Israel" after finding it inside Lebanese territory, ending decades of uncertainty about his fate since the 1982 Sultan Yacoub battle. Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Katz's body, who served in the armored corps, was recovered through a "special operation," while the army informed his family of the discovery and return of his body to "Israel." Katz was one of three Israeli soldiers whose fate remained unknown since the Sultan Yacoub battle during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, alongside Zachary Baumel and Tzvi Feldman. "Israel" recovered Baumel's body in 2019, and in May 2025 announced the recovery of Feldman's body, leaving Katz as the last of the three soldiers whose fate remained unknown. The events of the Sultan Yacoub battle date back to the night of June 10-11, 1982, when an Israeli occupation armored force entered the area in the Lebanese Bekaa, where it faced Syrian forces and violent clashes erupted, resulting, according to the Israeli account, in the deaths of 20 soldiers, dozens wounded, and six missing. Reports clarified that the fate of three of the six soldiers was later determined, as the body of Zohar Livshitz was returned, while Ariel Lieberman returned from Syrian captivity, and Hezi Shai was released in a prisoner exchange deal. Thus, the names Baumel, Feldman, and Katz remained linked for years to the file of the missing from the battle, before "Israel" recovered the bodies of the three in stages. Katz's family, especially his sister Farchia Hyman, had clung for years to the possibility that he remained alive and captive, based on old information and testimonies, before the recent Israeli announcement determined his fate after more than four decades of his disappearance.