The IDF said Thursday it has identified the burial site of a soldier who was killed in battle shortly after the country’s founding and had been missing for 76 years.
Pvt. Arthur Gassner was killed in April 1949 during an IDF operation in the Lachish region in central Israel, a year after the state declared independence. Until now, his final resting place had remained unknown.
Following a five-year investigation by the IDF’s Unit for Detecting Missing Soldiers, authorities determined Gassner was buried in a mass grave in the city of Rehovot alongside two fellow soldiers, Pvt. Gabriel Meghnagi and Pvt. Kalman Chapnik, who died in the same battle.
The three soldiers were part of a platoon from the Negev Brigade's 8th Battalion that encountered infiltrators near the village of Duweima, then in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank, on April 20, 1949. A prolonged firefight ensued, leaving 12 Israeli soldiers dead. Gassner, Meghnagi and Chapnik were initially listed as missing.
According to the IDF, intelligence and diplomatic sources later revealed that the soldiers’ bodies had been taken by locals to a cave in the village of Idhna.
Israeli forces launched an operation to recover the bodies on May 6, 1949, later identifying Meghnagi and Chapnik's remains. However, Gassner’s fate remained unresolved for decades.
In 2020, the IDF reopened the case and established a special investigation team. The probe involved reviewing historical documents, interviewing witnesses, analyzing soil samples and conducting archaeological surveys. Investigators concluded that all three soldiers had been buried together on May 6, 1949, in Rehovot.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Gassner’s family, including his niece, was informed of the findings last week by senior military officials, including Brig. Gen. Edna Ilia, head of the Casualties Division. The IDF said a headstone bearing Gassner’s name will be added to the shared grave in a formal ceremony.
Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF Manpower Directorate, said the announcement marks the resolution of the final case from the 1949 Beit Guvrin operation.
“This is an important opportunity to bring closure to a decades-old uncertainty,” Bar Kalifa said. “The IDF remains committed to returning all hostages, missing persons and fallen soldiers. We do not rest, even after many years.”