Majdi Halabi. Photo: The Halabi family.

The Israeli military has found and identified the remains of a soldier that went missing nearly 7 years ago, it announced on Thursday.

“This morning, the remains of a discovered body were matched with the DNA of a missing IDF soldier, Private Majdi Halabi, who has been missing since May 2005,” the IDF said in a statement.  “The remains were discovered approximately two weeks ago, near the town of Usfiya, and were identified by the Institute of Forensic Medicine.”

Halabi was 19 when he disappeared and was declared missing in action in June of 2005.  A number of convicted criminals claimed they had information that could lead to Halabi’s whereabouts, with the most recently publicized incident coming earlier this year when three convicted felons reportedly tried to negotiate a plea bargain in return for the burial location of Halabi’s body.

It is not known how Halabi died, although Israeli Police are expected to conduct an investigation into the matter.