JERUSALEM (VINnews) — IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke Tuesday evening with the family of Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, telling them that a decades-long chapter had finally ended with the return of the last missing soldier from the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub.

“Today, a circle has been closed. After 44 years, the Battle of Sultan Yacoub has come to an end. All those missing from the battle have been returned to Israel,” Zamir said, according to an IDF statement. “This is a special day for me, both as Chief of the General Staff and as a soldier of the Armored Corps. 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. An entire nation stands united with you and shares in your emotion today.”

Zamir expressed appreciation to the family for their long struggle to bring Katz home. The family thanked the chief of staff for his words and for the efforts that led to the return of Yehuda’s remains for burial in Israel. They said his funeral would unite the entire nation and would be held in a manner reflecting his unique character.

Katz, a tank crewman, went missing on June 11, 1982, during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley amid the First Lebanon War. He disappeared along with two fellow soldiers, Zachary Baumel and Zvi Feldman. Baumel’s remains were recovered in 2019 and Feldman’s in 2025. Katz’s remains were located and identified in an operation led by the Military Intelligence Directorate in coordination with the Mossad, the IDF said, completing the recovery of all those missing from the battle.

The return closes a painful chapter that began more than four decades ago and fulfills Israel’s longstanding commitment not to leave its fallen behind.