Operation Entebbe
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The Entebbe raid, also known as the Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan), was a 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
. It was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight (an
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) operated by
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
between the cities of Tel Aviv and Paris. During a stopover in Athens, the aircraft was hijacked by two Palestinian PFLP–EO and two German RZ members, who diverted the flight to
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
and then to Uganda, where they landed at Entebbe International Airport to be joined by other terrorists. Once in Uganda, the group enjoyed support from Ugandan dictator
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
. A week earlier, on 27 June, an
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...
jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have twinjet, two or quadjet, four jet engines; trijet, three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Air ...
with 248 passengers had been hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) under orders of Wadie Haddad (who had earlier broken away from the PFLP of George Habash), and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells. The hijackers took hostages with the stated objective of compelling the release of 40 Palestinian and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel as well as the release of 13 prisoners in four other countries. Over 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to support the hijackers after the flight landed, and Amin, who had been informed of the hijacking from the beginning, had personally welcomed the terrorists at Entebbe. After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room. Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages. Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the 106 captives if the specified prisoners were not released. Acting on intelligence provided by
Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...
, the decision was made to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. The Israeli plans included preparation for an armed confrontation with Amin's Uganda Army. Initiating the operation at nightfall on 3 July 1976, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, with three having been killed. One of the dead hostages, Dora Bloch, was murdered by Ugandan authorities at a hospital in
Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
shortly after the Israeli rescue operation; she had fallen ill during the hijacking and was removed from the plane for treatment prior to the commandos' arrival. The Israeli military suffered five wounded and one killed; Yonatan Netanyahu was Israel's sole fatality of Operation Entebbe, and had led Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort – he was the older brother of
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
, who would later become Israel's prime minister. The Israeli commandos killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 11 of Uganda's MiG-17s and
MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...
s were destroyed. Over the course of the operation in Uganda, Israel received support from neighbouring
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
.
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
, the then President of Uganda, subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan army to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda, leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyan-Ugandans and the exodus of around 3000 Kenyans from Uganda.


Hijacking

On 27 June 1976,
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
Flight 139, an Airbus A300B4-203 registered as with
serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
019, departed from
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, Israel, carrying 246 mainly Jewish and Israeli passengers and a crew of 12. The plane flew to Athens, Greece, where it picked up an additional 58 passengers, including four hijackers. It departed for Paris at 12:30 pm. Just after takeoff, the flight was hijacked by two
Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO), and by two Germans, Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann, from the German Revolutionary Cells. The hijackers diverted the flight to
Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...
, Libya. There it was held on the ground for seven hours for refuelling. During that time the hijackers released British-born Israeli citizen Patricia Martell, who pretended to have a
miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
. The plane left Benghazi and at 3:15 pm on the 28 June, more than 24 hours after the flight's original departure, it arrived at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda.


Situation at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport

At Entebbe, the four hijackers were joined by at least four others, supported by the forces of Uganda's president,
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
. The hijackers transferred the passengers to the transit hall of the disused former airport terminal where they kept them under guard for the following days. Amin came to visit the hostages almost on a daily basis, updating them on developments and promising to use his efforts to have them freed through negotiations. On 28 June, a PFLP-EO hijacker issued a declaration and formulated their demands. In addition to a ransom of US$5 million for the release of the airplane, they demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian militants, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel. They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill hostages on 1 July 1976.


Separation of hostages

On 29 June, after Ugandan soldiers had opened an entrance to a room next to the crowded waiting hall by destroying a separating wall, the hijackers separated the Israelis (including those holding dual citizenship) from the other hostages and told them to move to the adjoining room. As they did so, a
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
survivor showed hijacker Wilfried Böse a camp registration number tattooed on his arm. Böse protested "I'm no Nazi! ... I am an idealist." In addition, five non-Israeli hostages – two ultra-orthodox Jewish couples from the US and Belgium and a French resident of Israel – were forced to join the Israeli group. According to Monique Epstein Khalepski, the French hostage among the five, the captors had singled them out for questioning and suspected them of hiding their Israeli identities. On the other hand, according to French hostage Michel Cojot-Goldberg, the captors failed to identify at least one Israeli among the passengers who was a military officer with dual citizenship then using his non-Israeli passport and he was later freed as part of the second release of non-Israeli hostages. US citizen Janet Almog, Frenchwoman Jocelyne Monier (whose husband or boyfriend was Israeli), and French-Israeli dual citizen Jean-Jacques Mimouni, whose name had not been called up during the reading of the original passport-based list, reportedly joined the Israeli hostage group by their own choice.


Release of most non-Israeli hostages

On 30 June, the hijackers released 48 hostages. The released were picked from among the non-Israeli group – mainly elderly and sick passengers and mothers with children. Forty-seven of them were flown by a chartered Air France
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...
out of Entebbe to Paris, and one passenger was treated in hospital for a day. On 1 July, after the Israeli government had conveyed its agreement to negotiations, the hostage-takers extended their deadline to noon on 4 July and released another group of 100 non-Israeli captives who again were flown to Paris a few hours later. Among the 106 hostages staying behind with their captors at Entebbe airport were the 12 members of the Air France crew who refused to leave, about ten young French passengers, and the Israeli group of some 84 people.


Israeli response


Diplomatic efforts

In the week before the raid, Israel tried using political avenues to obtain the release of the hostages. Many sources indicate that the Israeli cabinet was prepared to release Palestinian prisoners if a military solution seemed unlikely to succeed. A retired IDF officer, Baruch "Burka" Bar-Lev, had known Idi Amin for many years and was considered to have a strong personal relationship with him. At the request of the cabinet, he spoke with Amin on the phone many times, trying to gain the release of the hostages, without success. The Israeli government also approached the United States government to deliver a message to Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...
, asking him to request that Amin release the hostages. Prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...
and defence minister
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
spent one week disagreeing on whether to give in to the hijackers' demands (Rabin's position) or not, to prevent more terrorism (Peres' position). At the 1 July deadline the Israeli cabinet offered to negotiate with the hijackers to extend the deadline to 4 July. Amin also asked them to extend the deadline until that date. This meant he could take a diplomatic trip to
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, Mauritius, to officially hand over chairmanship of the
Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...
to
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (18 September 1900 – 15 December 1985), often referred to as Chacha "Uncle" Ramgoolam or SSR, was a Mauritian physician, politician, and wikt:statesman, statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first ...
. This extension of the hostage deadline proved crucial to providing Israeli forces enough time to get to Entebbe. On 3 July at 18:30, the Israeli cabinet approved a rescue mission, presented by Major General Yekutiel Adam and Brigadier General Dan Shomron. Shomron was appointed as the operation commander.


Egyptian–PLO involvement and failure of diplomacy

As the crisis unfolded, attempts were made to negotiate the release of the hostages. According to declassified diplomatic documents, the Egyptian government under Sadat tried to negotiate with both the PLO and the Ugandan government. PLO chairman
Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
sent his political aide Hani al-Hassan to Uganda as a special envoy to negotiate with the hostage takers and with Amin. However, the PFLP-EO hijackers refused to see him.


Israel's military preparations

When Israeli authorities failed to negotiate a political solution, they decided that their only option was an attack to rescue the hostages. Lt. Col. Joshua Shani, lead pilot of the operation, later said that the Israelis had initially conceived of a rescue plan that involved dropping naval commandos into
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...
. The commandos would have ridden rubber boats to the airport on the edge of the lake. They planned to kill the hijackers and after freeing the hostages, they would ask Amin for passage home. The Israelis abandoned this plan because they lacked the necessary time and also because they had received word that Lake Victoria was inhabited by the
Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the eastern, southern, and ce ...
. Amnon Biran, the mission's intelligence officer, later stated that the proper layout of the airport was unknown, as was the exact location of the hostages and whether the building had been prepared with explosives.


Aircraft refuelling

While planning the raid, the Israeli forces had to plan how to refuel the
Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
aircraft they intended to use while en route to Entebbe. The Israelis lacked the logistical capacity to aerially refuel four to six aircraft so far from Israeli airspace. While several East African nations, including the logistically preferred choice Kenya, were sympathetic, none wished to incur the wrath of Amin or the Palestinians by allowing the Israelis to land their aircraft within their borders. The raid could not proceed without assistance from at least one East African government. The Israeli government secured permission from Kenya for the IDF task force to cross Kenyan airspace and refuel at what is today
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is an international airport serving Nairobi, the capital and largest city of Kenya. The other three important international airports in Kenya include Kisumu International Airport, Moi International Airport a ...
. Kenyan Minister of Agriculture Bruce MacKenzie persuaded Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta to permit Mossad to collect intelligence prior to the operation, and to allow the
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...
access to the Nairobi airport. MacKenzie's support for the operation came after Sir Maurice Oldfield, the then head of Britain's
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
intelligence agency, put his contacts in Mossad in touch with MacKenzie, who had been an MI6 contact for some time. The Jewish owner of the Block hotels chain in Kenya, along with other members of the Jewish and Israeli community in
Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
, may also have used their political and economic influence to help persuade Kenya's President Jomo Kenyatta to help Israel. Uganda's ambassador to
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
, Isaac Lumago, overheard some of the details of the operation from Kenya Air Force officers who were discussing the possibility of Israeli compensation for the assistance and forwarded the information to Ugandan commander Isaac Maliyamungu. Maliyamungu did not alert Amin or take any action on the intelligence, allegedly dismissing the report as "gasiya" (rubbish). According to Amin's son, Jaffar Remo, the Ugandan president still managed to receive Lumago's warning via telephone and, after completing his responsibilities at the OAU meeting, boarded a plane and flew back to Uganda. An ex-agent of Uganda's intelligence service, the State Research Bureau, also claimed that Amin was informed by Lumago of the imminent raid. The agent stated that Amin was terrified of possible reprisals in case his troops actually fought the Israeli military, allegedly resulting in his ordering that the Uganda Army should not open fire on Israeli aircraft during a possible raid.


Mossad intelligence

Mossad built an accurate picture of the whereabouts of the hostages, the number of hijackers, and the involvement of Ugandan troops, based on information from the released hostages in Paris. Further, Israeli firms had been involved in construction projects in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s: while preparing the raid, the Israeli army consulted with Solel Boneh, a large Israeli construction firm that had built the terminal where the hostages were held. While planning the military operation, the IDF erected a partial replica of the airport terminal with the assistance of civilians who had helped build the original. IDF major Muki Betser later remarked in an interview that Mossad operatives extensively interviewed the hostages who had been released. He said that a French-Jewish passenger who had a military background and "a phenomenal memory" had provided detailed information about the number of weapons carried by the hostage-takers.


Task force

The Israeli ground task force numbered approximately 100 personnel, and comprised the following elements:


= Ground command and control

= :This small group comprised the operation and overall ground commander, Brigadier General Dan Shomron, the air force representative Colonel Ami Ayalon and the communications and support personnel.


= Assault

= :A 29-person assault unit led by Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu – this force was composed entirely of commandos from Sayeret Matkal, and was given the primary task of assaulting the old terminal and rescuing the hostages. Major Betser led one of the element's assault teams, and took command after Lt. Col. Netanyahu was killed.


= Securers

= :# The Paratroopers force led by Col. Matan Vilnai – tasked with securing the civilian airport field, clearing and securing the runways, and protection and fuelling of the Israeli aircraft in Entebbe. :# The Golani force led by Col. Uri Sagi – tasked with securing the C-130 Hercules aircraft for the hostages' evacuation, getting it as close as possible to the terminal and boarding the hostages; also with acting as general reserves. :# The Sayeret Matkal force led by Major Shaul Mofaz – tasked with clearing the military airstrip, and destroying the squadron of MiG fighter jets on the ground, to prevent any possible interceptions by the Uganda Army Air Force; also with holding off hostile ground forces from the city of Entebbe.


Raid


Attack route

Taking off from
Sharm el-Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...
, the task force flew along the international flight path over the
Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
, mostly flying at a height of no more than 30 m (100 ft) to avoid radar detection by Egyptian, Sudanese, and Saudi Arabian forces. Near the south outlet of the Red Sea the C-130s turned south and crossed into Ethiopian territory, passing west of
Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...
. From there, they went to a point northeast of Nairobi, Kenya. They turned west, passing through the African Rift Valley and over
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...
. Two
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jets followed the cargo planes. The first Boeing contained medical facilities and landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The commander of the operation, General Yekutiel Adam, was on board the second Boeing, which circled over Entebbe Airport during the raid. The Israeli forces landed at Entebbe on 3 July at 23:00 IST, with their cargo bay doors already open. Because the proper layout of the airport was not known, the first plane almost taxied into a ditch. A black Mercedes car that looked like President Idi Amin's vehicle and Land Rovers that usually accompanied Amin's Mercedes were brought along. The Israelis hoped they could use them to bypass security checkpoints. When the C-130s landed, Israeli assault team members drove the vehicles to the terminal building in the same fashion as Amin. As they approached the terminal, two Ugandan sentries, aware that Idi Amin had recently purchased a white Mercedes, ordered the vehicles to stop. The first commandos shot the sentries using silenced pistols. This was against the plan and against the orders – the Ugandans were to be ignored, as they were believed not to be likely to open fire at this stage. An Israeli commando in one of the following Land Rovers opened fire with an unsuppressed rifle. Fearing the hijackers would be alerted prematurely, the assault team quickly approached the terminal.


Hostage rescue

The Israelis left their vehicles and ran towards the terminal. The hostages were in the main hall of the airport building, directly adjacent to the runway. Entering the terminal, the commandos shouted through a megaphone, "Stay down! Stay down! We are Israeli soldiers," in both
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
and English. Jean-Jacques Maimoni, a 19-year-old French immigrant to Israel, stood up and was killed when Muki Betser and another soldier mistook him for a hijacker and fired at him. Another hostage, Pasco Cohen, 52, was also fatally wounded by gunfire from the commandos. In addition, a third hostage, 56-year-old Ida Borochovitch, a Russian Jew who had emigrated to Israel, was killed by a hijacker in the crossfire. According to hostage Ilan Hartuv, Wilfried Böse was the only hijacker who, after the operation began, entered the hall housing the hostages. At first he pointed his Kalashnikov rifle at hostages, but "immediately came to his senses" and ordered them to find shelter in the restroom, before being killed by the commandos. According to Hartuv, Böse fired only at Israeli soldiers and not at hostages. At one point an Israeli commando called out in Hebrew, "Where are the rest of them?" referring to the hijackers. The hostages pointed to a connecting door of the airport's main hall, into which the commandos threw several
hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...
s. They then entered the room and shot dead the three remaining hijackers, ending the assault. Meanwhile, the other three C-130 Hercules aeroplanes had landed and unloaded
armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...
s to provide defence during the anticipated hour of refuelling. The Israelis then destroyed Ugandan MiG fighter planes to prevent them from pursuing, and conducted a sweep of the airfield to gather intelligence.


Departure

After the raid, the Israeli assault team returned to their aircraft and began loading the hostages. Ugandan soldiers shot at them in the process. The Israeli commandos returned fire, inflicting casualties on the Ugandans. During this brief but intense firefight, Ugandan soldiers fired from the airport control tower. At least five commandos were wounded, and the Israeli unit commander, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. Israeli commandos fired light machine guns and a
rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), also known colloquially as a rocket launcher, is a Shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon that launches rockets equipped with a Shaped charge, shaped-charge explosive warhead. Most RPGs can ...
back at the control tower, suppressing the Ugandans' fire. According to one of Idi Amin's sons, the soldier who shot Netanyahu, a cousin of the Amin family, was killed by return fire. The Israelis finished evacuating the hostages, loaded Netanyahu's body into one of the planes, and left the airport. The entire operation lasted 53 minutes – of which the assault lasted only 30 minutes. All seven hijackers present, and 45 Ugandan soldiers, were killed. Eleven Soviet-built MiG-17 and
MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...
fighter planes of the Uganda Army Air Force were destroyed on the ground at Entebbe Airport. Out of the 106 hostages, 3 were killed, 1 was left in Uganda (74-year-old Dora Bloch), and approximately 10 were wounded. The 102 rescued hostages were flown to Israel via Nairobi, Kenya, shortly after the raid.


Ugandan reaction

Amin was furious upon learning of the raid, and reportedly boasted that he could have taught the Israelis a lesson if he had known that they would strike. Following the raid, Maliyamungu had 14 soldiers arrested under suspicion of collaborating with the Israelis. Once they were gathered in a room at Makindye Barracks, he shot 12 of them with his pistol. Uganda Army Chief of Staff Mustafa Adrisi reportedly wanted to incarcerate or execute Godwin Sule, the Entebbe Air Base commander, who was absent from his post during the raid. Sule had left the air base early that day to meet a female companion at Lake Victoria Hotel on 4 July. Despite Adrisi's demands, Sule's closeness to President Amin guaranteed his safety.


Murder of Dora Bloch

Dora Bloch, a 74-year-old Israeli who also held British citizenship, was taken to Mulago Hospital in
Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
after choking on a chicken bone. After the raid she was murdered by officers of the Uganda Army, as were some of her doctors and nurses, apparently for trying to intervene. In April 1987, Henry Kyemba, Uganda's
Attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
and
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at the time, told the Uganda Human Rights Commission that Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and killed by two army officers on Amin's orders. Bloch was shot and her body was dumped in the trunk of a car that had Ugandan intelligence services number plates. Her remains were recovered near a sugar plantation 20 miles (32 km) east of Kampala in 1979, after the Uganda–Tanzania War ended Amin's rule.


Idi Amin's anti-Kenyan crackdown

Amin also ordered the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda in retaliation for Kenya's assistance to Israel in the raid. Uganda killed 245 Kenyans, including airport staff at Entebbe. To avoid massacre, approximately 3000 Kenyans fled Uganda as refugees. On 24 May 1978, Kenya's former agriculture minister, Bruce MacKenzie, was killed when a bomb attached to his aircraft exploded as MacKenzie departed a meeting with Amin. Some have asserted that Ugandan president Idi Amin ordered Ugandan agents to assassinate MacKenzie in retaliation for Kenya's involvement and MacKenzie's actions prior to the raid. Others have indicated various other possible causes for the bombing, including that another person aboard the plane may have been the target. AUTION: THAT WEB PAGE INFECTED WITH A VIRUS at time of retrieval Later, Mossad Chief Director Meir Amit had a forest planted in Israel in MacKenzie's name.


Aftermath and reactions


United Nations

The
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
convened on 9 July 1976, to consider a complaint from the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity charging Israel with an "act of aggression". The Council allowed Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, and Uganda's foreign minister, Juma Oris Abdalla, to participate without voting rights. UN Secretary General
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations#List of secretaries-general, secretary-general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 a ...
told the Security Council that the raid was "a serious violation of the sovereignty of a Member State of the United Nations" though he was "fully aware that this is not the only element involved ... when the world community is now required to deal with unprecedented problems arising from international terrorism."Security Council, Official Records, 1939th meeting, 9 July 1976, S/PV.1939. Abdalla, the representative of Uganda, alleged that the affair was close to a peaceful resolution when Israel intervened while Herzog, the representative of Israel, accused Uganda of direct complicity in the hijacking. The US and UK sponsored a resolution which condemned hijacking and similar acts, deplored the loss of life arising from the hijacking (without condemning either Israel or Uganda), reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, and called on the international community to enhance the safety of civil aviation. However, the resolution failed to receive the required number of affirmative votes because two voting members abstained and seven were absent.Security Council, Official Records, 1943th meeting, 14 July 1976, S/PV.1943, p. 18. A second resolution sponsored by Benin, Libya and Tanzania, that condemned Israel, was not put to a vote.


Western Bloc

Western nations spoke in support of the raid. West Germany called the raid "an act of self-defence". Switzerland and France praised the operation. Representatives of the United Kingdom and United States offered significant praise, calling the Entebbe raid "an impossible operation". Some in the United States noted that the hostages were freed on 4 July 1976, 200 years after the signing of the
United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...
. In private conversation with Israeli Ambassador Dinitz,
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
sounded criticism for Israeli use of US equipment during the operation, but that criticism was not made public at the time. In mid-July 1976, the supercarrier and her escorts entered the Indian Ocean and operated off the Kenyan coast in response to a threat of military action by forces from Uganda. The hijacked aircraft's pilot, Captain Michel Bacos, was awarded the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
, and the other crew members were awarded the French Order of Merit. In the ensuing years, Betser and the Netanyahu brothers – Iddo and
Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...
, all Sayeret Matkal veterans – argued in increasingly public forums about who was to blame for the unexpected early firefight that caused Yonatan's death and partial loss of tactical surprise. As a result of the operation, the United States military developed rescue teams modelled on the unit employed in the Entebbe rescue. One notable attempt was Operation Eagle Claw, a failed 1980 rescue of 53 American embassy personnel held hostage in Tehran during the
Iran hostage crisis The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...
. In a letter dated 13 July 1976, the Supreme Commander's Staff of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces praised the Israeli commandos for the mission and extended condolences for "the loss and martyrdom" of Netanyahu. F-BVGG, the aircraft in the hijacking of Air France Flight 139, was repaired and returned to service with Air France. In April 1996, the aircraft was leased to
Vietnam Airlines Vietnam Airlines () is the flag carrier of Vietnam. The airline was founded in 1956 and later established as a Government-owned corporation, state-owned enterprise in April 1989. Vietnam Airlines is headquartered in Long Biên district, Hanoi ...
for three months. In December the same year, the aircraft was converted into a freighter and was delivered to S–C Aviation, having been re-registered as N742SC. In 1998, the aircraft was delivered to MNG Airlines and re-registered as TC-MNA. In 2009, the aircraft was placed into storage at Istanbul Atatürk Airport and was scrapped in 2020.


Palestinian bombing of Kenya's Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi

The Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, owned by a prominent member of the local Jewish community, was bombed on 31 December 1980. The bomb flattened the hotel, killing 20 people, of several nationalities, and injuring 87 more. It was believed to be an act of revenge by pro-Palestinian militants for Kenya's supporting role in Operation Entebbe.


Commemorations

In August 2012, Uganda and Israel commemorated the raid at a somber ceremony at the base of the tower at the old terminal, where Yonatan Netanyahu was killed. Uganda and Israel renewed their commitment to "fight terrorism and to work towards humanity". In addition, wreaths were laid, a moment of silence was held, speeches were given, and a poem was recited. The flags of Uganda and Israel were flown side by side, symbolising the two countries' strong bilateral relations, next to a plaque bearing a history of the raid. The ceremony was attended by Ugandan State Minister for Animal Industry Bright Rwamirama and the deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Daniel Ayalon, who laid wreaths at the site. Forty years to the day after the rescue operation, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, brother of slain Israeli commando Yonatan Netanyahu, visited Entebbe with an Israeli delegation, and laid the groundwork for further Israeli–sub-Saharan African bilateral relations.


In popular culture


Documentaries

*''Operation Thunderbolt: Entebbe'', a documentary about the hijacking and the subsequent rescue mission. *'' Rise and Fall of Idi Amin'' (1980), a biographical film of the Ugandan dictator briefly features the raid, with an unusual depiction of Amin displaying cowardice when he learns of it. *Rescue at Entebbe, Episode 12 of 2005 documentary series ''Against All Odds: Israel Survives'' by Michael Greenspan. *'' Cohen on the Bridge'' (2010), a documentary by director Andrew Wainrib, who gained access to the surviving commandos and hostages. *''Live or Die in Entebbe'' (2012) by director Eyal Boers follows Yonatan Khayat's journey to uncover the circumstances of his uncle Jean-Jacques Maimoni's death in the raid. *"Assault on Entebbe", an episode of the
National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...
documentary '' Critical Situation''. *''Operation Thunderbolt'', the fifth episode in the 2012 Military Channel documentary series ''Black Ops''.


Dramatizations

*'' Victory at Entebbe'' (1976): with
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
,
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...
,
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
and
Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...
, Director: Marvin J. Chomsky. *'' Raid on Entebbe'' (1977): with Peter Finch, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, John Saxon, Yaphet Kotto, and James Woods, Director: Irvin Kershner, Producer: Edgar J. Scherick. *'' Operation Thunderbolt'' (1977): with
Yehoram Gaon Yehoram Gaon (; born December 28, 1939) is an Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture. The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Bosnian f ...
played Col. Netanyahu, Sybil Danning and
Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...
played the hijackers. Director:
Menahem Golan Menahem Golan (; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israelis, Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid ...
. *'' The Last King of Scotland'' (2006): The raid occurs as one episode in a longer story about Idi Amin. *'' Entebbe'' (2018): Director: José Padilha.


Films inspired by Operation Entebbe

*'' The Delta Force'' (1986) which featured a hostage rescue operation inspired by Operation Entebbe. *'' Zameen'' (2003) is a
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
movie starring Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan who draw a plan to rescue hostages of an Indian airliner hijacked by Pakistani militants on the basis of Operation Entebbe.


Other media

*'' Operation Thunderbolt,'' a 1988
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...
, loosely based on Operation Entebbe, but using a fictional location. *'' To Pay the Price'', a 2009 play by Peter-Adrian Cohen based in part on Yonatan Netanyahu's letters. The play, produced by
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
's Theatre Or opened off-off Broadway in New York in June 2009 during the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas.


Gallery

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-002.jpg, The old control tower as seen from the front File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-003.jpg, Close up of the control tower File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-001.jpg, The old terminal building as it appeared in 2009 File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-004.jpg, Wall plaque on display at the old terminal building File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-005.jpg, The old terminal building of the Entebbe International Airport as seen from the air


See also

* Air France Flight 8969 – a similar hijacking and raid on another Air France airliner in 1994 *
Aspen Movie Map The Aspen Movie Map was a hypermedia system developed at MIT that enabled the user to take a virtual tour through the city of Aspen, Colorado. It was developed by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA. Features The ...
– a project whose funding came about because of Operation Entebbe * Israeli casualties of war * List of hostage crises * Lufthansa Flight 181 – a similar event the following year, involving a German airliner *
Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) The Israeli Military Intelligence (), often abbreviated to Aman (), is the central, overarching military intelligence body of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Aman was created in 1950, when the Intelligence Department was spun off from the IDF' ...
(Aman) – Israel's military intelligence agency * Operation Gift * Operation Opera * Operation Outside the Box * Operation Wooden Leg * Operation Mikado – a proposed SAS operation during the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
inspired by Operation Entebbe * Operation Niki – a clandestine airlift of a battalion of Greek commandos from Crete to Cyprus in 1974 * Sayeret – Israeli Special Forces Units


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Live or Die in Entebbe
Trailer *, video by National Geographic, 4 min. * video and digitised re-enactment, 9 min. * video documentary – detailed, 9 min. 10 min. * documentary – detailed, 44 min.

Daily Telegraph article by Saul David
Entebbe: Turning Point of Terrorism
in Strategy and Tactics, No. 232, January/February 2006.
BBC Article and Videos – 4 July 1976: Israelis rescue Entebbe hostages (BBC)BBC: 30th anniversary of the raid on EntebbeBBC Age of Terror – Episode 1: Terror International
Ynetnews 5 November 2010. transcripts of Israeli Cabinet discussions {{DEFAULTSORT:Entebbe 1976 in international relations 1976 in Israel 1976 in Uganda Air France accidents and incidents Airborne operations Aircraft hijackings Aviation accidents and incidents in 1976 Aviation accidents and incidents in Uganda Conflicts in 1976 Counterterrorism Counterterrorism in Israel Hostage rescue operations involving Israel Idi Amin Israel Defense Forces Israel–Uganda relations Jewish Ugandan history July 1976 in Africa Raids of the Arab–Israeli conflict Mossad operations Operations involving Israeli special forces Palestinian terrorist incidents in Greece Revolutionary Cells (German group) Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups 1976 disasters in Uganda Hijackings in the 1970s Attacks on airports in Africa Grenade attacks in Africa Attacks on buildings and structures in 1976