Israeli MIAs

Empty graves at the Garden of the Missing in Action

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. Soldiers formally captured by another state's armed forces are generally termed prisoners of war, while those held by non-state armed groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah are more commonly described in Israel as "abductees," even though Israel has in practice negotiated for their release in much the same way as for prisoners of war.[1] Every year, a state ceremony is held at Mount Herzl, Israel's military cemetery in Jerusalem.[2]

IDF prisoners of war

Commemorative wall at the Garden of the Missing in Action

1948 Arab–Israeli War

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the defenders of several Jewish positions were taken captive after being forced to surrender. Some 350 survivors of the fall of the Gush Etzion bloc were held for nearly a year at a Jordanian prisoner-of-war camp at Zarqa, with most released by March 1949.[3] Defenders of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City surrendered to Jordan's Arab Legion on 28 May 1948 and were likewise taken prisoner.[4] The surrender of Kibbutz Nitzanim to Egyptian forces on 7 June 1948, after which 105 defenders were taken prisoner to Cairo, drew an unusually harsh public reaction: Givati Brigade cultural officer Abba Kovner wrote a battle-page piece titled "The Fall of Nitzanim - A Failure" condemning the surrender, a controversy that shadowed the kibbutz's survivors for years afterward.[5]

Yom Kippur War

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.[6]

Known Israeli MIAs

October 7th and aftermath

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.[7] One was rescued three weeks after being taken hostage, the body of another was recovered in November 2023,[a] and the other five were released in January 2025 as part of the second Gaza war ceasefire.[9][8][10] 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.[11][12] Alexander was released on May 12, 2025 as a "gesture of goodwill toward US President Donald Trump."[13]

Recovered MIAs and KIAs

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

Name Date Missing/Killed Circumstance Date Recovered Circumstance
Arthur Gasner 20 April 1949 Killed and body taken to Idna[14] 6 May 1949 /
15 May 2025		 His body was recovered 6 May 1949 along with the bodies of his fellow soldiers. His body was identified on 15 May 2025, having been considered an MIA for 76 years.[14]
Avraham Amram 5 April 1978 Captured in southern Lebanon by Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC[15] 14 March 1979 Prisoner exchange for 76 prisoners – Israel's first exchange with a non-state Arab group[15]
Zachary Baumel 10–11 June 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub 4 April 2019 Operation Bittersweet Song
Zvi Feldman 11 May 2025 Mossad Operation[16]
Yehuda Katz 18 August 2026 Recovered in an operation led by the Military Intelligence Directorate, in coordination with the Mossad.[17]
Yosef Fink and Rachamim Alsheikh 17 February 1986 Ambushed and captured by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon[18] 22 July 1996 Bodies returned in a German-mediated exchange with Hezbollah[18][19]
Nachshon Wachsman 9 October 1994 Abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman 14 October 1994 Rescue Attempt
Itamar Ilya 4 September 1997 Killed in the Ansariya ambush in Lebanon[20] 25 May 1998 Remains exchanged for 65 Lebanese prisoners and 40 bodies of Hezbollah and Lebanese soldiers[20][21]
Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Sawaid 7 October 2000 Killed and abducted by Hezbollah at Mount Dov[22] 29 January 2004 Returned as part of the Tannenbaum affair prisoner exchange[23]
Ehud Goldwasser 12 July 2006 Operation Truthful Promise 16 July 2008 Prisoner Exchange[24]
Eldad Regev 12 July 2006 Operation Truthful Promise 16 July 2008 Prisoner Exchange[24]
Gilad Shalit 25 June 2006 2006 Gaza cross-border raid 18 October 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange
Oron Shaul 20 July 2014 Battle of Shuja'iyya 19 January 2025 ISA/Shabak Operation[25]
Hadar Goldin 1 August 2014 2014 Gaza War 9 November 2025 Returned by Hamas in accordance to the Gaza peace plan[26]

Efforts to free captives

Hostage-taking to pressure releases

In several cases the IDF mounted operations aimed at capturing enemy personnel to use as bargaining chips for the release of Israeli captives. A secondary goal of 1955's Operation Olive Leaves was to seize Syrian prisoners who could be exchanged for four Israelis then held by Syria; the four were returned after roughly fifteen months in captivity.[27] On 9 June 1972, an Israeli force captured five Syrian intelligence officers patrolling near the Israel–Lebanon border; they were later exchanged for three Israeli pilots held in Syrian captivity.[28]

The 1994 abductions of Lebanese cleric Abdel Karim Obeid and, later, Mustafa Dirani, were intended to pressure for information on missing Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, but did not yield the hoped-for results.[29][30] Israel also held a number of Lebanese civilians under administrative detention as suggested "bargaining chips" for Arad's release; most were ultimately ordered released by Israel's Supreme Court.[31][32]

Military campaigns

Israel has on several occasions gone to war with the stated aim, among others, of recovering captured soldiers by force: the 2006 military operations in the Gaza Strip followed the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit; the 2006 2006 Lebanon War was launched, in part, to free reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev after their abduction by Hezbollah; and the return of hostages taken in the 7 October 2023 attack was a stated objective of Israel's subsequent Gaza war.

Prisoner exchanges

Beyond the individual cases above, Israel has carried out numerous prisoner-exchange deals to recover captive or fallen soldiers, at times releasing far larger numbers of prisoners than the number of Israelis returned. On 7 December 1969, two hijacked Israeli civilians and pilots Giora Rom and Nissim Ashkenazi, shot down over the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition, were exchanged for 71 Egyptian and Syrian prisoners.[33] On 23 November 1983, six captured Israeli soldiers were exchanged for several thousand Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners, reported variously as roughly 4,600 to 4,765, held mainly at the Ansar detention camp.[28][34] In the 20 May 1985 "Jibril Agreement," 1,150 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for three Israeli soldiers held by Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC – Hezi Shai, Yosef Grof and Nissim Salem.[28][34]

Public debate

Israeli prisoner-exchange deals have long been a subject of domestic controversy, centering on whether the security cost of releasing large numbers of prisoners – some convicted of killing Israelis – is justified by the imperative to bring captives home. The 1983 exchange of six soldiers for thousands of prisoners set a precedent, at the time defended by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as a heavy but necessary price, that was repeated on a similar scale in the 1985 Jibril Agreement.[35] On Gilad Shalit's release in October 2011, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz wrote to soldiers that the military would continue to do everything in its power to bring back all those missing or held captive, describing this as a core value of the IDF.[36] More recently, a bill informally known as the "Shamgar-Lapid Law," reviving a proposal associated with politician Yair Lapid, has sought to cap future exchanges at no more than one convicted prisoner released per hostage returned, on the argument that large-scale releases create an incentive for further kidnappings.[37]

Procedure and guidelines

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.[38] Research on Israeli former prisoners of war has found that, contrary to a popular cultural image of soldiers uniformly withstanding interrogation, most did not hold up against pressure from their captors.[38]

Several publicized stories of Israeli prisoners of war were:[39]

  • 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 Avraham "Avi" Lanir, 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."[40]
  • 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.[41]

Psychological effects

Research led by Israeli psychologist Zahava Solomon has found that former prisoners of war remain at elevated risk of psychological difficulties for decades after their release, including compared to combat veterans who were not held captive.[42] Studies have also found that former POWs report greater difficulty with intimate relationships and lower sexual satisfaction than comparable veterans who were not captured.[43]

A long-running Israeli study followed 183 former prisoners of war from the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In a 2008 assessment, roughly 35 years after their captivity, only about 15 percent showed no post-traumatic symptoms, 42 percent had standard post-traumatic stress disorder, and 42 percent had complex post-traumatic stress disorder; the severity of a former captive's disorder correlated with the degree of suffering endured during captivity, and most cases involved delayed rather than immediate onset.[44]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Her body was recovered from Al-Shifa Hospital[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kaplan, Danny. "Commemorating a Suspended Death: Missing Soldiers and National Solidarity in Israel" (PDF). American Ethnologist Volume 35, Number 3 (August 2008). ISSN 0094-0496. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  2. ↑ Simmons, Rabbi Shraga (October 16, 1986). "Missing in Action". aishcom. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Kfar Etzion massacre". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  4. ↑ "Battle for Jerusalem". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  5. ↑ "Newly Released Footage Shows Traumatic 1948 Israeli Battle With Egypt". Haaretz. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Israel's MIAs". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 11 October 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Fabian, Emanuel (24 December 2024). "As IDF releases audio of lookout troops on Oct. 7, families complain footage edited". The Times of Israel.
  8. 1 2 Gil-Ad, Hadar (7 January 2024). "IDF soldier Noa Marciano was killed in Shifa hospital. Her father calls release of its director a 'knife to the heart'". Ynet.
  9. ↑ Kathleen Magramo; Akanksha Sharma (2023-10-31). "Israeli forces rescue soldier held by Hamas in special operation, IDF says". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  10. ↑ "IDF soldiers released from captivity were held by senior Hamas terrorist – report". The Times of Israel. 4 February 2025.
  11. ↑ Bletter, Diana (19 March 2025). "With new Gaza fighting, 4 IDF widows worry the bodies of their fallen husbands won't return". The Times of Israel.
  12. ↑ Mednick, Sam (March 22, 2025). "Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home". AP News.
  13. ↑ "'A gesture of goodwill toward Trump,' Egyptian official says on Edan Alexander release deal". Maariv. May 12, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Fabian, Emanuel. "IDF says it has determined soldier killed in 1949 was buried in Rehovot grave with comrades". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  15. 1 2 "Israel in First Prisoner Exchange with Arab Terrorist Organization". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 15 March 1979. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Fabian, Emanuel. "Body of soldier Zvi Feldman, missing for 43 years, recovered by Mossad and IDF". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
  17. ↑ "Remains of Yehuda Katz, who went missing in First Lebanon War, are returned to Israel — IDF". The Times of Israel. 2026-08-18. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
  18. 1 2 "Fink, Joseph (Yossi)". Honor Israel's Fallen. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Hezbollah, Israel Swap Battle Dead". The Washington Post. 22 July 1996. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  20. 1 2 "Ansariya ambush". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "Swap With Hezbollah Returns Slain Israeli". The Washington Post. 26 June 1998. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "The Mount Dov abductions". Ynetnews. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  23. ↑ "Israel, Hezbollah make breakthrough prisoner swap". ABC News. 29 January 2004. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  24. 1 2 "Kidnapped troops return in coffins from Lebanon". ynet. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
  25. ↑ "Body of Oron Shaul, killed and captured by Hamas in 2014, recovered from Gaza". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
  26. ↑ Fabian, Emanuel (2025-11-09). "After 4,118 days in Gaza, body of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin confirmed to be back in Israel". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2025-11-09.
  27. ↑ "Operation Olive Leaves". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  28. 1 2 3 "Prisoners-of-War and Captive Soldiers: Exchanges". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  29. ↑ "Abdel Karim Obeid". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  30. ↑ "Mustafa Dirani". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  31. ↑ "CrimFH 7048/97 – John Does v. Minister of Defence (English translation)" (PDF). HaMoked. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  32. ↑ "Israel Releases 13 Lebanese Detainees". CBS News. 2000. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  33. ↑ "Mrs. Meir Denounces Syria, Egypt in Wake of 3-Way Prisoner Release Arrangement". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  34. 1 2 "Timeline: Past prisoner swaps". Al Jazeera. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "From raids to ransom: Israel's hostage policy has become Hamas's sharpest weapon". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  36. ↑ "After Shalit, pledge to bring home other missing soldiers". The Jewish Chronicle. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  37. ↑ "Knesset bill seeks to limit release of terrorists for hostages". JNS. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  38. 1 2 Dalia Gavriely (2006). "Israel's Cultural Code of Captivity and the Personal Stories of Yom Kippur War Ex-POWs". Armed Forces & Society. 33 (1): 94–105. doi:10.1177/0095327X05282531. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Public Law- An Act" (PDF). November 8, 1999. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  40. ↑ (The source is in Hebrew)
  41. ↑ Bergman, Ronen (September 20, 2013). "The Spies Inside Damascus". Foreign Policy. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  42. ↑ Solomon, Zahava; et al. (2012). "Predictors of PTSD trajectories following captivity: A 35-year longitudinal study". Psychiatry Research. 199 (3): 188–194. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2012.03.035. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  43. ↑ Zerach, Gadi; et al. (2010). "Posttraumatic Symptoms, Marital Intimacy, Dyadic Adjustment, and Sexual Satisfaction among Ex-Prisoners of War". The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 7 (8): 2739–2749. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01784.x. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  44. ↑ Zerach, Gadi; Shevlin, Mark; Cloitre, Marylene; Solomon, Zahava (2019). "Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) following captivity: a 24-year longitudinal study". European Journal of Psychotraumatology. 10 (1). doi:10.1080/20008198.2019.1616488. Retrieved 26 August 2026.

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