IDF Identifies 1948 Fallen Soldier From Operation Harel Convoys Whose Burial Place Had Been Unknown

The IDF Spokesperson announced Wednesday evening that the IDF Missing Persons Branch has successfully identified the remains of a soldier who fell during the 1948 Operation Harel convoys, after his burial site had remained unknown for over seven decades.

The fallen soldier was Private Yaakov Zarihan, of blessed memory, who was killed while serving in the supply convoys dispatched to besieged Jerusalem during Operation Harel. It has now been determined that he was interred in a mass grave at Kiryat Anavim alongside seven other IDF soldiers who participated in the convoys.

Zarihan immigrated to the Land of Israel through the Habonim movement from Casablanca, Morocco, in December 1947, arriving aboard the immigrant vessel Haportzim. He joined the Hasneh training group at Kibbutz Ramat HaKovesh — a group designated to establish what would become Kibbutz Bror Hayil. He enlisted in the Transportation Service on April 12, 1948, and was assigned as an operational driver to the Etzioni Brigade.

As part of Operation Harel, Zarihan participated in a convoy that departed for Jerusalem on April 20, 1948, comprising approximately 300 vehicles and armored cars. He was killed in battle in the Sha'ar HaGai area alongside thirteen other convoy members, and was buried on April 22, 1948, at the military cemetery at Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim. For reasons that have not yet been made public, he was subsequently classified as a fallen soldier missing in action whose burial place was unknown — a designation that stood for more than seventy-five years until the identification was made.