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Israeli MIA are members of the Israel Defense Forces who are missing in action. Despite efforts to locate and repatriate them, their whereabouts remain unknown. Every year, a state ceremony is held at Mount Herzl, Israel's military cemetery in Jerusalem. [1]
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. [2]
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. [6]
Several publicized stories of Israeli prisoners of war were: [7]
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. The majority of combat between the two sides took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights—both of which had been occupied by Israel in 1967—with some fighting in African Egypt and northern Israel. Egypt's initial objective in the war was to seize a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and subsequently leverage these gains to negotiate the return of the rest of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula.
The history of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intertwines in its early stages with history of the Haganah.
The 1st "Golani" Brigade is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the others being the Paratroopers Brigade, the Nahal Brigade, the Givati Brigade and the Kfir Brigade. Its symbol is a green olive tree against a yellow background, with its soldiers wearing a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the IDF. The brigade consists of five battalions, including two which it kept from its inception, one transferred from the Givati Brigade (51st).
General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal, is the special reconnaissance unit (sayeret) of Israel's General Staff (matkal). It is considered one of the premier special forces units of Israel.
Elhanan Tannenbaum, is an Israeli who was kidnapped in 2000 and held for more than three years by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. He was released in a prisoner exchange, together with the bodies of several Israeli soldiers, for 435 Arab prisoners held by Israel. After his release from Hezbollah, Tannenbaum was not charged for any crime in Israel, after a plea bargain.
Guy Hever is an Israeli MIA. Hever, a soldier in the Israeli Army, has been missing since 17 August 1997. He was last seen on his army base at 9:30 AM on the Golan Heights, dressed in his army fatigues, carrying his weapon, a Galil AR, his military disk and his international military identification papers. The area was searched thoroughly, but to this day his whereabouts are unknown.
Mustafa Dirani is a former head of security in the Amal Movement in Lebanon. In 1987, he started reaching out to pro-Iran sources, and eventually established contact between them and the rest of the Amal leadership. He was eventually expelled from Amal and established his own organization, the "Believing Resistance".
Sultan Yacoub is a Lebanese village in the West Beqaa District, about seven kilometers from the border with Syria.
The Battle of Sultan Yacoub was a battle between Syria and Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War, which occurred near the village of Sultan Yacoub in the Lebanese Bekaa, close to the borders with Syria.
Ron Arad, was an Israeli Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) who has officially been classified as missing in action since October 1986. Arad was lost on a mission over Lebanon and is believed to have been captured by the Shiite group Amal and later handed over to Hezbollah.
The 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid occurred at the boundary between Lebanon and the Golan Heights on October 7. Hezbollah militants captured three Israeli soldiers while they were patrolling the security fence, and subsequently took them into Lebanon. While the time and circumstances of the three soldiers' deaths remain unknown, their bodies were returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange on 29 January 2004.
Avraham "Avi" Lanir was a lieutenant colonel in the Israel Air Force. He was the highest-ranking Israeli fighter pilot to fall into enemy hands.
The First Battle of Mount Hermon was fought at the outset of the Yom Kippur War between the Syrian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). On Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973, Syrian commandos attacked and captured the IDF outpost on Mount Hermon. Two days later, the Syrians repelled an Israeli counterattack in the Second Battle of Mount Hermon. It was eventually recaptured by Israel on October 21 in the Third battle.
The Third Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on the night of October 21–22, 1973, between the Israeli Army and the Syrian Army over Mount Hermon, during the last days of the Yom Kippur War. Syrian troops had captured the IDF outpost on the mountain on October 6, and held it for two weeks. In the third battle, codenamed Operation Dessert, Israeli troops captured the Israeli outpost and the Syrian one.
Events in the year 1973 in Israel.
The Hannibal Directive is the name of a controversial procedure that was used by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) until 2016 to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one version, it says that "the kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces." It was introduced in 1986, after a number of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent controversial prisoner exchanges. The full text of the directive was never published, and until 2003, Israeli military censorship forbade any discussion of the subject in the press. The directive has been changed several times, until it was officially revoked in 2016 by IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot. The Directive's replacement has not been published.
Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin were two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza War. Hamas initially said they had been captured alive, although the IDF later announced the soldiers were dead.
Zechariah Baumel, also known as Zachary Baumel, was an American-Israeli soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. On the night of 10-11 June 1982, during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the 1982 Lebanon War, his unit was attacked and he and five other comrades were declared missing. One had been killed and was later found buried in Syria, and two were located alive in Syria and returned to Israel a few years later. But Baumel and two others remained unaccounted for. Until his death in 2009, Baumel's father Yona kept his son's case in the public eye, traveling around the world to uncover leads to verify the persistent rumors that his son was still alive, and criticizing the Israeli army for not pursuing the case vigilantly.
Hezi Shai is a former tank commander in the Israeli Defense Forces. During the 1982 Lebanon War, he was one of five Israeli soldiers declared missing in action after their tanks were hit during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.