Operation Entebbe

Operation Entebbe
Part of the Arab-Israeli conflict
The old terminal building of the Entebbe International Airport as it appeared in 2008
Date 4 July 1976 Location Entebbe Airport, Uganda Result Mission successful: 102 of 106 hostages rescued.
Belligerents
Israel	PFLP-EO Revolutionary Cells  Uganda
Commanders and leaders
Dan Shomron Yekutiel Adam Benjamin Peled Yonatan Netanyahu (KIA)	Wadie Haddad Wilfried Böse Idi Amin
Strength
c.100 commandos, plus air crew and support personnel.	7 hijackers. +100 Ugandan soldiers.
Casualties and losses
1 killed 5 wounded	Hijackers: 7 killed Uganda: 45 killed 11–30 aircraft destroyed
3 hostages killed 10 hostages wounded

Air France Flight 139

The Air France Airbus A300 involved at Charles de Gaulle Airport in 1980
Hijacking summary
Date	27 June 1976
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Greek airspace
Passengers	248
Crew	12
Fatalities	4
Injuries (non-fatal)	10
Survivors	256
Aircraft type	Airbus A300B4-203
Operator	Air France
Registration	F-BVGG
Flight origin	Ben Gurion Int'l Airport, Israel
Stopover	Athens (Ellinikon) Int'l Airport, Greece
Destination	Charles De Gaulle Int'l Airport, France

Mission successful:

Hijackers:
7 killed

Operation Entebbe was a successful counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers had been hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) under orders of Wadie Haddad (who had earlier broken away from the PFLP of George Habash), and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells. The hijackers had the stated objective to free 40 Palestinian and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel and 13 prisoners in four other countries in exchange for the hostages. The flight, which had originated in Tel Aviv with the destination of Paris, was diverted after a stopover in Athens via Benghazi to Entebbe, the main airport of Uganda. The Ugandan government supported the hijackers, and dictator Idi Amin personally welcomed them. After moving all hostages from the aircraft to a disused airport building, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group and forced them into a separate room. Over the following two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. Ninety-four, mainly Israeli, passengers along with the 12-member Air France crew, remained as hostages and were threatened with death.