This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Entebbe raid or Operation Entebbe , officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan , was a Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda.
It was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight an Airbus A operated by Air France between the cities of Tel Aviv and Paris. Once in Uganda, the group enjoyed support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. 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. Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the captives if the specified prisoners were not released.
Acting on intelligence provided by Mossad , the decision was made to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. Initiating the operation at nightfall on 3 July , Israeli transport planes flew commandos over 4, kilometres 2, mi to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 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 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 , who would later become Israel's prime minister. Idi Amin subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan army to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda, [ 22 ] leading to the deaths of Kenyan-Ugandans and the exodus of around Kenyans from Uganda.
The hijackers diverted the flight to Benghazi , Libya. During that time the hijackers released British-born Israeli citizen Patricia Martell, who pretended to have a miscarriage. At Entebbe, the four hijackers were joined by at least four others, supported by the forces of Uganda's president, Idi Amin. 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.
