Israeli MIAs

File:Garden of the Missing in Action IMG 1299.JPG]]

In the Yom Kippur War 301 Israelis were captured by Syria and Egypt, 232 of whom by the Egyptians, 65 by the Syrians and 4 by the Lebanese. The majority of them were captured in the first stage of that war. Some Israeli soldiers reported after their release about the difficult conditions they faced: they were severely beaten by their captors, sometimes making them unconscious, while many reported that they were being investigated under torture.{{cite web|author=|date=11 October 2012|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2004/Pages/Israeli%20MIAs.aspx|title= Israel's MIAs|work=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs| accessdate=August 20, 2013}}

• Yehuda Katz, an IDF soldier of the 362nd battalion declared missing after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon on June 12, 1982.{{cite web | last=Fischer | first=Elli | title=Yehuda, Tzvi, and Zachary: MIA for 30 Years | website=The Times of Israel | date=August 30, 2017 | url=http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/yehuda-tzvi-and-zachary-missing-for-30-years-tonight/ | access-date=April 2, 2018}}
• Ron Arad, an IDF F-4 Phantom II navigator, was lost over Lebanon on October 16, 1986.{{cite web|last = Kaplan|first= Danny|title = Commemorating a Suspended Death: Missing Soldiers and National Solidarity in Israel|url = http://www.dannykaplan.org/articles/SuspendedDeathCirculatePrePublication.pdf|work= American Ethnologist Volume 35, Number 3 (August 2008)|accessdate = 18 October 2011 |issn = 0094-0496|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120317004813/http://www.dannykaplan.org/articles/SuspendedDeathCirculatePrePublication.pdf|archivedate = 17 March 2012}}
• Guy Hever disappeared on duty in the Golan Heights on August 17, 1997.

{{See also|Gaza war hostage crisis|2023 Israeli–Palestinian prisoner exchange|2025 Gaza war ceasefire}}

During the Hamas October 7 invasion of Israel, 251 people were abducted from Israel into the Gaza strip. Of these, at least 23 were IDF soldiers, while the rest were Israeli civilians (both Jewish and non-Jewish), and foreign workers. Seven of the soldiers taken hostage were taken from the Nahal Oz military base, near the Kibbutz Nahal Oz, during the Nahal Oz attack. All seven were females.{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-idf-releases-audio-of-lookout-troops-on-oct-7-families-complain-footage-edited/|title=As IDF releases audio of lookout troops on Oct. 7, families complain footage edited|publisher=The Times of Israel|date=24 December 2024|first=Emanuel |last=Fabian}} One was rescued three weeks after being taken hostage, the body of another was recovered in November 2023{{efn|Her body was recovered from Al-Shifa Hospital}}, and the other five were released in January 2025 as part of the second Gaza war ceasefire.{{Cite web |last=Magramo |first=Akanksha Sharma, Kathleen |date=2023-10-31 |title=Israeli forces rescue soldier held by Hamas in special operation, IDF says |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/middleeast/idf-ori-megidish-rescue-hamas-hostage-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214181140/https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/middleeast/idf-ori-megidish-rescue-hamas-hostage-intl-hnk/index.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|title=IDF soldier Noa Marciano was killed in Shifa hospital. Her father calls release of its director a 'knife to the heart'|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkrom11xdr|date=7 January 2024|first=Hadar|last= Gil-Ad|publisher=Ynet}}{{cite news|title=IDF soldiers released from captivity were held by senior Hamas terrorist – report|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-soldiers-released-from-captivity-were-held-by-senior-hamas-terrorist-report/|date=4 February 2025|publisher=The Times of Israel}} The remainder of the soldiers taken captive include Colonel Asaf Hamami, the highest ranking officer whose body was abducted, Sergeant Major Muhammad Alatrash an Israeli from the Bedouin community, and Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American citizen.{{cite news|title=With new Gaza fighting, 4 IDF widows worry the bodies of their fallen husbands won't return|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-new-gaza-fighting-4-idf-widows-worry-the-bodies-of-their-fallen-husbands-wont-return/|date=19 March 2025|publisher=The Times of Israel|first=Diana |last=Bletter}}{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/edan-alexander-american-hostage-hamas-israel-ceasefire-6f3f08b0359d8b9953c134174c59a870|title=Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home|publisher=AP News|first=Sam| last=Mednick|date=March 22, 2025}} Alexander was released on May 12, 2025 as a "gesture of goodwill toward US President Donald Trump."{{cite news|title='A gesture of goodwill toward Trump,' Egyptian official says on Edan Alexander release deal|date=May 12, 2025|agency=Maariv|url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-853595}}

In addition to the soldiers taken hostage in the October 7 invasion of Israel, Hamas also holds the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin who fell in battle during the 2014 Gaza War.{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/once-again-hadar-goldin-may-be-left-behind/|title=Once again, Hadar Goldin may be left behind|date=27 January 2025|publisher=The Times of Israel|first=Tal |last=Schneider}}

The remains of several Israeli soldiers missing and killed in action have been recovered.

According to Reuben Yardor, a military intelligence leader of the Yom Kippur War, the automatic assumption they made was that all that's known to their captured soldiers is also known to the captors.{{cite journal|author=Dalia Gavriely|date=2006|url=http://afs.sagepub.com/content/33/1/94|title= Israel's Cultural Code of Captivity and the Personal Stories of Yom Kippur War Ex-POWs|journal= Armed Forces & Society|volume=33|issue=1|pages=94–105|doi=10.1177/0095327X05282531| accessdate=August 20, 2013}}

Several publicized stories of Israeli prisoners of war were:{{cite web|author=|date=November 8, 1999|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-106publ89/pdf/PLAW-106publ89.pdf|title=Public Law- An Act|website=| accessdate=August 20, 2013}}

• Corporal Uri Ilan, undercover soldier in the Golani Brigade who committed suicide in a Syrian prison in 1955, leaving a note in which he wrote, "I did not betray."
• Lieutenant Colonel Avi Nir, fighter pilot shot down and captured during the Yom Kippur War, died in captivity without revealing secrets to his captors. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Courage, for "[He] was tortured to death by investigators but revealed no information. Doing so demonstrates loyalty and supreme sacrifice."(The source is in Hebrew)
• Lieutenant Amos Levinberg, intelligence officer taken captive by the Syrians in the beginning the Yom Kippur War, and gave his captors a lot of information. He was eventually released in a prisoner exchange.{{cite web | last=Bergman | first=Ronen | title=The Spies Inside Damascus | website=Foreign Policy | date=September 20, 2013 | url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/20/the-spies-inside-damascus/ | access-date=April 2, 2018}}

• Gilad Shalit
• Disappearance of Ron Arad
• Majdi Halabi
• List of Israeli prisoner exchanges

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal | last=Kaplan| first=Danny| title=Commemorating a suspended death: Missing soldiers and national solidarity in Israel | journal=American Ethnologist | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | volume=35 | issue=3 | date=July 31, 2008 | issn=0094-0496 | doi=10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00043.x | pages=413–427}}
• [https://www.congress.gov/106/plaws/publ89/PLAW-106publ89.pdf Public Law 106–89 106th Congress], US Congress, November 8, 1999
• {{cite book|author=Alexander Bligh|title=Israeli Prisoner of War Policies: From the 1949 Armistice to the 2006 Kidnappings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DW81DgAAQBAJ|date=16 March 2017|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-9472-0}}

• [http://www.eitan.aka.idf.il/894-en/eitan.aspx EITAN - Missing in Action Accounting Unit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403112404/http://www.eitan.aka.idf.il/894-en/eitan.aspx |date=2018-04-03 }} of the IDF
• [http://www.mia.org.il/ ICMIS Home Page: The International Coalition for Missing Israeli Soldiers]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israeli Mias}}

Category:Arab–Israeli conflict

Category:Military personnel missing in action

Category:Israeli military personnel