Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was the counter-terrorism hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Force at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of July 3 and early morning of July 4, 1976 against one of the worst terrorist hijackings in history.
Operation Entebbe was a hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. An Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and supporters and flown to Entebbe, near Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Shortly after landing, all non-Jewish passengers were released. Negotiations went on for a week, until suddenly Israeli forces burst into the airport terminal with total surprise. The operation took place at night, as Israeli transport planes carried 100 elite commandos over 2,500 miles (4,000 km- Can you imagine?) to Uganda for the rescue operation. The operation, which took a week of planning, lasted 90 minutes and 103 hostages were rescued. Five Israeli commandos were wounded and one, the commander, Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. For the whole operation they lost only one commandor. All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed. As a result of the operation the United States military developed highly-trained rescue teams modeled on the Entebbe rescue.
The clear message sent: If the crocodile comes looking for appeasement, we’ll feed him a live hand grenade.
Israel says "We say to the terrorists of today: we did it then and we can do it now if we want."
These days, when we are in the midst of an ongoing battle against terrorism, violence and incitement, Operation Entebbe will always remain a shining example of the fight against terrorism and a symbol of man’s courage in resisting brutality and evil.If you are interested to know more about this operation, watch the movie “Raid on Entebee” based on true story.