JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israel Defense Forces announced Wednesday that it has identified the burial site of Pvt. Dov Parmet, a soldier killed in action during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence whose remains had been considered missing for nearly 78 years.

Parmet, a member of the first company of the Oded Brigade’s 11th Battalion, was killed on June 5, 1948, during a battle with a Syrian-Lebanese enemy force near the community of Malkia in northern Israel. Following the engagement, he was listed as a fallen soldier whose burial place was unknown

After years of efforts to locate his remains, the IDF established a special investigation team in 2020. The team conducted extensive work including document analysis, witness interrogations, soil analysis and archaeological surveys, the military said.

The investigation concluded that Parmet was buried in a mass grave in Kibbutz Maoz Haim alongside 16 other soldiers killed in the 1948 battles at Malkia.

Parmet’s family, including his niece, was briefed on the findings Tuesday night by Adjutant Corps Chief Brig. Gen. Edna Ilia.

In the coming weeks, the IDF will hold an official ceremony to place a headstone bearing Parmet’s name at the military cemetery in Maoz Haim.

The announcement marks another success in Israel’s long-running efforts to locate and properly bury soldiers missing from the country’s early wars.