Arthur Gasner
Arthur GasnerIDF

The IDF announced on Thursday that after a comprehensive investigation led by the Branch for Missing Persons of the Casualties Division, the burial place of Arthur Gasner was located, 76 years after he was killed in action in the east of the Lachish District.

Gasner fell on April 20, 1949, in the course of an operation by the Negev Brigade in the Lachish sector, when a company of the 8th Battalion ran into a group of infiltrators in the vicinity of the village of Duyama.

The battle ended with the fall of twelve soldiers. The burial places of three of them were unknown.

The findings of the investigation indicate that the three bodies were transferred by the local Arabs to a cave in the village of Idna, which was under Jordanian control.

An IDF force undertook a targeted operation to recover the bodies on May 6, 1949, but only two of them were identified. Gasner's body remained unidentified, and he was declared a soldier whose burial place is unknown.

In 2020, the IDF reopened the investigation, establishing a special investigation team that included document analysis, witness interrogation, archaeological surveys, and soil analysis. After a comprehensive investigation, it was determined that the three soldiers were buried together in a mass grave at the cemetery in Rehovot.

Last week, Gasner's family, including his niece, was briefed on the results of the investigation by Chief of Manpower and Reserve Affairs and the Head of the Casualty Branch Adina Eliyahu. The IDF is expected to hold a ceremony soon to add a headstone to Gasner's grave.

The IDF notes that even since the beginning of the current war, the effort to locate missing persons and return prisoners has continued, while maintaining a profound moral commitment to the families.

Chief of Manpower, Major General Dado Bar Kalifa, said: "After 76 years and following a thorough and professional investigation, we have the privilege of determining that Arthur Gasner, the last missing soldier from the 1949 operation at Beit Guvrin, is buried in the military cemetery in Rehovot alongside his comrades-in-arms."

"It is so important is the opportunity to bring closure in this long-standing matter, especially at this time it is important to remember and act so that all will know that the IDF does not rest on its laurels even after a long time, and labors to bring succor to the families of the fallen and the last of the soldiers to proper burial. We have a supreme and moral obligation to return the hostages and the missing, and will continue to work to do so."