Operation Entebbe was a daring counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on July 4, 1976, at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and two from the German Revolutionary Cells took control of an Airbus A300 (Air France Flight 139). The plane was forced to fly to Entebbe, Uganda, where Ugandan dictator Idi Amin welcomed the hijackers. Like the Nazis 30 years before, the German and Palestinian terrorists separated Jewish and Israeli passengers from the rest, holding over 100 hostages to demand the release of jailed militants globally. Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos more than 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) across Africa under the cover of night. Landing covertly in C-130 Hercules aircraft, Israeli forces stormed the old terminal. The raid lasted less than an hour. Commandos rescued 102 hostages, killed all 7 terrorists - the 4 original hijackers on board the flight were later joined by 3 to 6 additional accomplices on the ground in Uganda - as well as 45 Ugandan soldiers, and destroyed 11 Ugandan fighter jets on the ground. Unit commander Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu was killed during the raid; three hostages were killed: Ida Borochovitch, Pasco Cohen, and Jean-Jacques Maimoni. A fourth hostage, Dora Bloch, a 74-year-old British-Israeli dual citizen who had been taken to a hospital in Kampala before the raid, was subsequently murdered by Ugandan authorities on the orders of dictator Idi Amin. The mission is officially known in Israel as Operation Yonatan (or Mivtza Yonatan) and was also called Operation Thunderbolt. Detailed accounts and records of the event are preserved by institutions like the National Library of Israel, marking a major turning point in modern counter-terrorism strategies. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Photos (1-4 Wikipedia): 1) Commandos from Sayeret Matkal with the Mercedes they used to deceive the Ugandans (Photo IDF Spokesman).