On June 27, 1976, a Paris-bound Air France flight from Tel Aviv was hijacked by militants—four Palestinian and two German. The hijackers forced the flight’s crew to fly the plane to Entebbe, Uganda. There they released the non-Israeli passengers, keeping 106 hostages: 94 passengers (Israelis, along with a few non-Israelis who stayed behind voluntarily) and the 12-person flight crew. The hijackers demanded $5 million and the release of 53 imprisoned militants (40 of whom were Palestinians being held in Israel), announcing that if their demand was not met they would begin executing the hostages.
After unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a resolution, the Israeli government decided to launch a risky rescue operation. On the night of July 3, four Israeli C-130 transport planes secretly departed from Israel, carrying an elite team of commandos, bound for Entebbe.
The planes, flying less than 100 feet above ground and trailed by two Boeing 707s carrying medical facilities, proceeded to Kenya, where they refueled in accordance with a secret arrangement Israel had made with the Kenyan government. The raiders then flew to the international airport at Entebbe, where the hostages were being held, dropping onto the runaway at 11:00 p.m., with the cargo doors on the planes already lowered.
As soon as they were on the ground, the commandos rolled out of the planes aboard a Mercedes and Land Rovers intended to resemble the convoy that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin traveled in. Taking the hijackers and their Ugandan allies by surprise, the commandos stormed into the terminal where the hostages were being held. Screaming out “Stay Down! We are Israeli soldiers!” they killed the hijackers. Three of the hostages were killed in the crossfire, but the other 102 were rescued.
As the commandos were hurrying the rescued passengers to the transport planes, a firefight broke out with Ugandan soldiers firing from the airport control tower. The operation’s commander, 30-year-old Lt. Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu (brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), was killed in the firefight—the only Israeli soldier to die in the raid.
Along with the hijackers, about 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the raid and 11 Ugandan MIG fighter jets were destroyed on the runway. The rescued passengers were flown safely to Israel, where they and their rescuers were given heroes' welcomes.
Infuriated and humiliated by the raid, Idi Amin took his revenge upon the innocent. One of the Israeli passengers, 74-year-old Dora Block, was not in the terminal when the raid occurred; unbeknownst to the Israelis she had been taken to a nearby hospital with a medical emergency. On Amin's orders she was taken from her hospital bed and murdered. Incensed by the Kenyan participation in the rescue operation, Amin also ordered the murder of 245 Kenyans living in Uganda.
Operation Entebbe, which culminated 46 years ago today, is now remembered as one of history’s most dramatic hostage rescues.
The photo shows the rescue planes’ squadron leader being welcomed home.
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