How Operation Thunderbolt was carried out by Israel
25-01-2026 | Posted By: Aditya Singh | 43 View(s)
On 27 June 1976, Air France Flight 139, an Airbus departed from Tel Aviv, Israel, carrying 246 mainly Jewish and Israeli passengers and a crew of 12. The plane flew to Athens, Greece, where it picked up an additional 58 passengers, including four hijackers.It departed for Paris at 12:30 pm . Just after takeoff, the flight was hijacked by two Palestinians and two Germans, Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann, from the German Revolutionary Cells.The hijackers diverted the flight to Benghazi, Libya.There it was held on the ground for seven hours for refuelling. During that time the hijackers released British-born Israeli citizen Patricia Martell, who pretended to have a miscarriage.The plane left Benghazi and at 3:15 pm on the 28 June, more than 24 hours after the flight’s original departure, it arrived at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda to be joined by other terrorists. Once in Uganda, the group enjoyed support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
The hijackers transferred the passengers to the transit hall of the disused former airport terminal where they kept them under guard for the following days. 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.
On 28 June, a PFLP-EO hijacker issued a declaration and formulated their demands. In addition to a ransom of US$5 million for the release of the airplane, they demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian militants, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel.They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill hostages on 1 July 1976
On 1 July, after the Israeli government had conveyed its agreement to negotiations, the hostage-takers extended their deadline to noon on 4 July and released another group of 100 non-Israeli captives who again were flown to Paris a few hours later. Among the 106 hostages staying behind with their captors at Entebbe airport were the 12 members of the Air France crew who refused to leave,about ten young French passengers, and the Israeli group of some 84 people.
The Israeli Authorities demanded time till 4th July to meet the demands but what ensured was one of the most daring Rescue operations code named-Operation Thunderbolt.
Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the 106 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
Israel gathered immaculate intelligence about the whereabouts of the hostages and hijackers.Their transport aircraft along with Fighter air crafts flew over 4,000 km at very low altitude to avoid being detected by Uganda and reached Entebbe  carrying commandos and support teams and at 00:00 hrs— Israeli C-130 Hercules aircraft touched down at Entebbe,Uganda under darkness.Commandos and vehicles moved out fast (assault force + perimeter/security teams).The assault team used a Mercedes to resemble the vehicle used by Uganda’s leader Idi Amin, helping them approach with less suspicion in the opening moments.Soon they were challenged by Ugandan Forces but the Israeli Commandos quickly neutralized them.Roughly 100 Israeli personnel took part in the ground task force.
In the meantime Uganga ATC switched off the lights at the airport to prevent any landing/takeoff from the airport but the Israeli’s again outsmarted by by using High Power torches which allowed the other accompanying Fighter Aircrafts to land safely at the Airport.
The Commando team then stormed the Building which had all the hostages and Hijackers and shouted instructions for hostages to get down/stay still to avoid crossfire in Hebrew language so that the Hijackers could not understand what they were talking.
What ensured was a fierce gunfight between the Commandos and the Hijackers supported by Ugandan Forces.The Hijackers were engaged and killed, and most of the hostages were evacuated rapidly.
Israeli forces also destroyed Ugandan MiG fighter jets on the ground to prevent pursuit/interception.Hostages were quckly flown out via Nairobi, Kenya, shortly after.
The terminal assault + hostage extraction is widely reported as taking roughly 60–90 minutes, with the most intense fighting concentrated in the first ~15–20 minutes.
Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 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.The Israeli commandos killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 11 of Uganda’s MiG-17s and MiG-21s were destroyed. Over the course of the operation in Uganda, Israel received support from neighbouring Kenya. Idi Amin, the then President of Uganda, subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan army to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda,leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyan-Ugandans and the exodus of around 3000 Kenyans from Uganda.
Credit:Wikipedia
