At least four gravestones were smashed by unknown assailants in the section for fallen defenders of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter at the Mount of Olives military cemetery in Jerusalem, near where Sgt. First Class Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, the last missing soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the First Lebanon War, is expected to be buried on Friday. Police have opened an investigation but have not yet reported the incident.
About 70 people were killed during the fighting and siege of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter during the 1948 War of Independence, including about 30 civilians and 40 fighters. The latter included members of underground Jewish organizations and residents who joined the war effort and were posthumously enlisted in the IDF and recognized as fallen soldiers. Those killed during the first months of the war were evacuated from the Old City through British mediation and buried on the Mount of Olives.
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At least four gravestones were smashed by unknown assailants in the section for fallen defenders of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter at the Mount of Olives military cemetery in Jerusalem
The IDF announced that overnight Tuesday, in a joint operation with the Mossad, the remains of Staff Sgt. Yehuda Katz were located. Katz was the last missing soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub. During the battle on June 11, 1982, the IDF left six soldiers behind on the battlefield. Three remained missing for decades. The remains of Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel were recovered seven years ago, while the remains of Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman were recovered last year in a special operation in Syria.
The battle, fought 44 years ago between Syrian and Israeli forces, took place on the sixth day of Operation Peace for Galilee. At the end of the battle, 20 IDF soldiers were killed, dozens were wounded and six were listed as missing. The circumstances and course of the battle have been the subject of extensive academic and public debate, apparently because of its heavy losses, uncertainty over the fate of the missing soldiers and various allegations directed at the commanders, some of whom later became political figures.
On the fifth day of the Lebanon War, before a cease-fire with the Syrian army, IDF forces were ordered to seize a strategic junction known by the code name "Tovlano Triangle" at the foot of the village of Sultan Yacoub. The sector was commanded by Northern Command Corps commander Avigdor "Yanush" Ben-Gal. His deputy was Ehud Barak and the corps' chief of staff was Amram Mitzna. The mission was assigned to a divisional force consisting of three armored brigades and an infantry brigade.
The late Staff Sgt. Yehuda Katz
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
At the end of the battle, eight Israeli tanks remained in Syrian hands and six soldiers were declared missing. The fate of three was later established. One, Zohar Lifshitz, was killed during the battle, buried in Syria and his body returned to Israel after the war. Another, Arik Lieberman, was taken prisoner by Syria and released two years later. The third, Hezi Shai, was captured by the terrorist organization headed by Ahmed Jibril and released three years later as part of the Jibril prisoner exchange.
Following the signing of the Oslo Accords, Yasser Arafat handed Israel half of Baumel's military identification tag. Research conducted years later found that the IDF had an aerial photograph showing the location of Syrian forces, but the information did not reach the troops fighting on the ground.
Katz's funeral will be held on Friday. The funeral procession will leave at 8:30 a.m. from the study hall of Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshiva, where he studied. At 10 a.m., the funeral ceremony will begin in the military section of the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem.