Overview
- On July 4, 1976 Israeli commandos flew C-130s to Entebbe Airport and carried out a surprise nighttime assault that freed about 102 hostages while all hijackers were killed and Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu became the sole Israeli commando casualty.
- Fifty‑year retrospectives and interviews with pilots and commanders have reaffirmed the mission’s daring long‑range flight, low‑altitude navigation, rapid terminal assault and its role as a benchmark for hostage‑rescue doctrine.
- Newly released archival records from Israeli files provide primary documentation that secret diplomatic contacts and covert negotiation efforts occurred at the same time the military prepared a rescue option.
- Longstanding disputes over who planned key elements of the operation have resurfaced, with veterans and the Netanyahu family continuing to offer competing accounts of planning and execution.
- The raid remains a defining episode in Israeli memory and counterterrorism practice, and the fresh records are likely to sharpen public debate about negotiation versus force and how leaders use such missions politically.