i24 News – The burial sites of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 1948 War of Independence were found after 74 years, Israel’s military announced today. The Spokesperson’s Unit of Israel’s army said the graves of Private Binyamin Aryeh (York) Eisenberg and Private Yitzhak Rubinstein were found.
They were interred in a mass grave in Nitzanim, a kibbutz in southern Israel.
Eisenberg and Rubinstein – both members of Palmach, the fighting force of the underground Haganah army – were killed by Egyptian soldiers who fought on the side of the Palestinians in May 1948, days after Israel declared independence.
The decade-long search was conducted by the Eitan Unit for the Detection of Missing Soldiers. Their remains bore signs of abuse.
Israel’s military said their relatives were informed Friday morning of the development by Major General Yaniv Assor, head of the army’s Personnel Directorate.
“Every Hebrew mother should know that we will not give up until all the children of Israel are returned to their graves and we’ve revealed the burial places of those martyrs whose burial places are unknown,” Assor said in a statement.
“Today, the State of Israel and the [army] have fulfilled its moral obligation in establishing the burial sites of Benjamin Aryeh Eisenberg and Yitzhak Rubenstein.”
