Last Surviving Gunman of 1972 Lod Airport Attack Dies in Beirut

Kozo Okamoto, sole survivor among three Japanese Red Army gunmen who killed over two dozen people at Tel Aviv's Lod Airport in May 1972, died July 23, 2026, in Beirut at 78. The PFLP — a Palestinian militant group — announced his death. Okamoto served 12 years in Israeli prison before a 1985 prisoner exchange, then lived decades in Lebanon.