More than four decades after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, a painful chapter in Israeli military history has finally come to a close, as the remains of Staff Sgt. Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, the last soldier still missing from the 1982 battle, were laid to rest on Har Hazeisim in Yerushalayim.
Katz’s remains were located this week in Lebanon during a joint operation carried out by the IDF and Mossad, 44 years after he disappeared during the First Lebanon War.
The funeral procession began at the Kerem B’Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva, where Katz had learned before serving in the IDF, and continued to Har Hazeisim.
Rav Mordechai Greenberg, the rosh yeshiva, recalled Katz’s commitment to maintaining his spiritual standards while serving in the military.
“Yehuda wrote for himself what special commitments he had undertaken to uphold in the army,” Rav Greenberg said.
The Association of Hesder Yeshivot said Katz embodied the ideals upon which the Hesder system was established — combining Torah learning with a sense of responsibility toward the Jewish people and Eretz Yisroel.
Katz’s brother, Avi, delivered an emotional hesped, describing the decades of uncertainty endured by the family and the difficulty of finally accepting that his brother had been identified.
“How much hope and longing for rebirth and a new beginning your name carries. When the army informed us that you were missing, Dad’s first sentence was, Auschwitz is not over. When they came this week to tell us about the identification, it took us 14 hours of struggle to convince ourselves that this was final. My brother, today we are burying you, but this is not our private story, this is the story of Am Yisrael,” he said.
Avi recalled how his brother had touched the lives of others from a young age and said his influence only grew during the 44 years that he remained missing.
“Already from a young age, you touched people and influenced them deeply. There are countless stories we hear from your friends, and in the 44 years of your absence, your influence did not diminish but only intensified. My children and my sister’s children grew up with you, prayed and hoped, dreamed dreams about you and about the day you would return to us. Dad and Mom traveled for 12 years, night after night, summer, winter, rain, snow, from Ramat Gan to the Kosel in Yerushalayim to pray for you to return. We never despaired and never gave up on you for a moment.”
Struggling through his grief, Avi said that the discovery of his brother’s remains had brought pain rather than relief.
“The feeling when we were informed that he had been found was not relief or joy, but pain and deep sadness, like someone had plunged a knife deep into his heart. For us, Yehuda was killed this week and not 44 years ago. At this moment, I ask your forgiveness for all those moments when I despaired.”
Col. Gal Levy, commander of the IDF’s 10th Brigade, delivered remarks on behalf of the military, reflecting on the question that had haunted the Katz family for more than four decades.
“44 years in which Yehuda was missing. Years of longing, memories and one question that gave no rest: Where are you? The tank soldier who went out to battle and did not return. That question accompanied the Katz family for four decades. Today we can say Yehuda has returned home, after the family never stopped the struggle to bring him back. Sadly, his parents Sarah and Yosef are not here with us at this historic and painful moment.”
The Association of Hesder Yeshivot also issued a lengthy statement honoring Katz and the persistence of those who never stopped hoping for his return.
“For 44 years, Yehuda Yekutiel Katz was missing from his family, his friends, Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva and the entire Hesder Yeshiva family. Generations of students were born and grew up since that battle, but the prayer for his return never ceased. Yehuda embodied in his character the deep foundation upon which the world of Hesder Yeshivot was built – the connection between the bais medrash and responsibility for the nation and the land. Between toil in Torah and the willingness to leave the seforim at a moment’s notice, put on a uniform and go out to defend Israel. We embrace the Katz family, his friends and the family of Kerem B’Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva.”
Katz disappeared during the fierce Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11, 1982, the sixth day of Operation Peace for Galilee. The battle took place south of the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub in the Bekaa Valley, just hours before a ceasefire was scheduled to take effect.
Twenty Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle, dozens more were wounded, and six soldiers were initially listed as missing.
Three of those missing soldiers were subsequently returned to Israel through prisoner-exchange agreements.
The remains of Zachary Baumel were recovered in April 2019 with assistance from the Russian Defense Ministry. The remains of Zvi Feldman were brought back to Israel on May 11, 2025, following a covert Mossad operation.
With the identification and return of Yehuda Yekutiel Katz this week, the fate of the final missing soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub has now been resolved, bringing an end to a 44-year wait for his family and for Israel.
{Matzav.com}
