Zrihan was killed only nine days after enlisting while participating in a massive supply convoy of approximately 300 vehicles attempting to reach besieged Jerusalem.
By Hezy Laing
The IDF announced on July 8, 2026, that the burial site of Private Yaakov Zrihan, missing since the 1948 War of Independence, has been located after 78 years, proving the state’s unwavering commitment that it will not rest until all its sons are properly laid to rest.
Zrihan made aliyah at the age of 17, from Casablanca, Morocco, in December 1947 aboard the immigrant ship Haportzim.
He enlisted in the Palmach on April 12, 1948, and served as an operational driver in the Etzioni Brigade.
He was killed on April 20, 1948, during Operation Harel while participating in a massive supply convoy of approximately 300 vehicles attempting to reach besieged Jerusalem.
He fell in battle near Sha’ar HaGai alongside 13 other convoy members, and his body was buried two days later in an unmarked mass grave.
The breakthrough followed a rigorous 15-year investigation by the IDF’s Missing Persons Branch, which intensified in 2024 with a special team utilizing archival document analysis, witness interrogations, advanced soil examinations, and archaeological surveys.
Investigators concluded that Zrihan was buried on April 22, 1948, at the Harel Brigade military cemetery in Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim, resting alongside seven other fallen soldiers whose identities were also previously obscured.
The discovery was formally communicated to his surviving family, including his sister Yvonne Cohen, by Brigadier General Edna Ilya, the IDF’s Chief Human Resources Officer and head of the Casualties Directorate.
In the coming weeks, a state military ceremony will be held at Kiryat Anavim to dedicate a headstone bearing Zrihan’s name, allowing his nephews to recite the Kaddish prayer at his grave for the first time.
While Zrihan’s case is now closed, the IDF continues to search for the burial sites of approximately 240 soldiers still missing from the War of Independence.
Among those still being sought are Yehuda Katz, Avraham Feigenbaum, Shalom Zarfati, Shmuel Bernstein, Yaakov Leibovitz, Shmuel Moldavsky, Yitzhak Glick, and Shlomo Kron.
