On the 27th of June 1976,
Air France Airbus A300 is en route from Tel Aviv to Paris with 12 air crew and 248 passengers
when it was hijacked by 4 hijackers.
2 of them were from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
while the other 2 were from the German Revolutionary Cells.
The hijackers diverted the French Airbus to Benghazi, Libya.
After several hours of refueling, the flight flew to Entebbe airport in Uganda.
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin knew about this hijack and actually supported the terrorists.
Upon arrival at Entebbe, the terrorists were joined by the Ugandan military and
with their help, the hostages were moved from the aircraft to the airport building.
They wanted a ransom of 5 million dollars
and the release of 53 Palestinian militants from Israel and 4 other countries.
If their demands are not met by 1st of July, they will start killing hostages.
Subsequently, the hostages were separated into Israelis and non-Israelis.
Back in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin contacted the U.S President to deliver
a message to the Egyptian government, asking for their help with negotiation.
Despite Egypt's effort to get the Palestinian Liberation Organization to help with negotiation,
the hijackers refused to meet Yasser Arafat's political aide.
Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet was* having
a debate on whether to give in to the hijackers demands.
Over the next 2 days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown to Paris.
With negotiations failing, Israel decided that the only remaining
option is to conduct a hostage rescue operation.
On the 1st July deadline,
Israel negotiated with the hijackers to extend the deadline to 4th of July.
This deadline extension would be crucial for the hostage rescue operation.
The initial plan was to have naval commandos air dropped into Lake Victoria followed
by a maritime infiltration using rubber boats to Entebbe airport.
However, this plan was dismissed after finding out that the lake was inhabited by crocodiles.
Some challenges faced by the Israelis included not having sufficient
intelligence on the airport's layout, the hostages' exact location and so on.
Then, there is also the logistical difficulty.
As Israeli aircraft would need to refuel, given that Uganda is pretty far away from Israel,
East African nations would not allow Israeli aircraft to land
within their borders for the fear of angering the Ugandan President.
Israel also needed to prepare for possible military response from Uganda.
Fortunately for Israel, the Israeli government obtained permission from Kenya for Israeli
aircraft to enter their airspace and refuel at present-day Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Kenyan Minister of Agriculture Bruce MacKenzie also persuaded Kenyan President to allow Mossad,
Israel's external intelligence agency, to collect intelligence across the border from Kenya.
It was also reported that Jewish owner of the block hotels chain in Kenya and the
Jewish community may have used their influence to convince Kenya's President to help Israel.
In Paris, Mossad gathered intelligence by interviewing the released hostages.
A French-Jewish passenger with military background
provided detailed information regarding the weapons carried by the hijackers.
Moreover, Israeli firms were also involved in the construction of the Ugandan airport.
With the assistance of Israeli civilians, the Israeli military was able to build a
replica of the airport building and rehearse for the operation.
The plan is finally coming together.
4 C-130 Hercules and 2 Boeing 707 would
take off from the city of Sharm (Sharm el-Sheikh) in the middle of the night.
They would fly low about 30 meters above the Red Sea, avoiding radar detection.
Subsequently, they would turn in Southwest, crossing the airspace of Djibouti and Ethiopia.
As Entebbe's runway might not be lit up upon arrival and Israeli pilots do
not have night vision at that time, they had to come up with something.
The Israelis successfully configured the radar to
detect the runway to assist their pilots with landing in the dark.
The IDF task force is made up of about 100 personnel divided into multiple elements.
The Ground Command & Control (C2) comprises the overall ground commander,
the Air Force representative as well as communications and support personnel.
The assault force, made up of 29 Sayeret Matkal commandos,
is the primary element tasked with the hostage rescue.
The securing force being the largest, is composed of 3 elements.
The Paratroopers element is responsible for securing the
landing zone and protecting Israeli aircraft while they are refueling.
The Golani element has a similar responsibility and also acts as a reserve force.
The 2nd Sayeret Matkal element is responsible for destroying
Ugandan Air Force MiG fighter jets as well as dealing with any Ugandan military response.
On 3rd of July, the night before the 4th July deadline,
the plan is in motion.
As the Israeli aircraft are flying without fighter escort, any radar detection
or interception by hostile fighter aircraft would immediately compromise the entire mission.
One of the Boeing 707 would carry medical supplies and will land in Nairobi, Kenya
while the other Boeing 707 would be carrying the commander of the operation.
The 4 Hercules successfully landed in Entebbe airport under the cover of darkness
while the Boeing 707 carrying the command & control element would remain airborne.
Knowing that Ugandan President Amin travels in a black Mercedes, the Israeli commandos did the
same, hoping to bypass security checkpoints while approaching the airport building.
An Ugandan sentry who got suspicious ordered the vehicles to stop.
Israeli commandos immediately shot the sentry with silenced pistols.
Realizing that the sentry is still alive, another Israeli commando fired his unsuppressed rifle.
The Israeli commandos sped towards the airport
building fearing that they had lost the element of surprise.
Meanwhile, this securing force equipped with armored
personnel carriers, sets up a defensive perimeter.
The 2nd Sayeret Matkal element proceeded to destroy a squadron of
Ugandan MiG fighter jets with their APCs.
The hostage rescue lasted about 30 minutes and Israeli
commandos successfully eliminated the hijackers.
Outside, Israeli forces find themselves engaged with the Ugandan military.
An Ugandan soldier fired his RPG,
killing the Israeli unit leader Yonatan Netanyahu and wounding 5 Israeli soldiers.
Within 53 minutes, 102 rescued hostages were loaded onto the aircraft.
Israeli forces left Entebbe for Kenya, linking up with the Boeing 707 carrying
medical supplies which began treating the wounded on their way back to Israel.
Unfortunately, 3 hostages were caught in the crossfire.
7 terrorists, 45 Ugandan soldiers and 11 Ugandan MiG fighter jets were lost to the Israeli forces.
Naturally, Ugandan President Amin was furious and threatened military action against Kenya.
U.S aircraft carrier USS Ranger and her escorts
would then be deployed off the Kenyan coast in response to Uganda's threats.
Subsequently, President Amin ordered the execution of one of the hostages who was left behind,
a 74-year-old woman who was taken to an Ugandan hospital after choking on a chicken bone.
Nurses and doctors who tried stopping the Ugandan Army would also be executed.
Amin also ordered the killings of hundreds of Kenyans living in
Uganda, leading to 3,000 Kenyans fleeing Uganda as refugees.