Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces 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 was hijacked, by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German Revolutionary Cells, and flown to Entebbe, near Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Shortly after landing, all non-Israeli passengers, except one French citizen, were released.
The IDF acted on intelligence provided by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. In the wake of the hijacking and with the hijackers threatening to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met, the rescue operation was planned. These plans included preparation for armed resistance from Ugandan military troops.
The operation took place at night, as Israeli transport planes carried 100 commandos over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to Uganda for the rescue operation. The operation, which took a week of planning, lasted 90 minutes and 102 hostages were rescued. Five Israeli commandos were wounded and one, the commander, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed, and thirty Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s of Uganda's air force were destroyed. 24 hours later, a fourth Israeli hostage was killed by Ugandan army officers at a nearby hospital.
Entebbe is a major town in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, the town was at one time, the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda, prior to Independence in 1962. Entebbe is the location of Entebbe International Airport, Uganda's largest commercial and military airport, best known for the dramatic rescue of 100 hostages kidnapped by the resistance group of the PFLP and Revolutionary Cells (RZ) organizations. Entebbe is also the location of State House, the official office and residence of the President of Uganda.
Entebbe sits on the northern shores of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake. Entebbe lies at 00.04N, 32.465E. It is situated in Wakiso District, approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi), southwest of Kampala, Uganda's largest city and capital.
The Municipality is located on a peninsula into Lake Victoria covering a total area of 56.2 square kilometres (21.7 sq mi), out of which 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) is water.
During the 2002 national census, Entebbe's population was estimated at 55,086 people. In 2008, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), estimated the population of the town at 70,200. In 2011, UBOS estimated the population of Entebbe at approximately 79,700.
Idi Amin Dada (c. 1924 – 16 August 2003) was the military dictator and third President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. He later promoted himself to Field Marshal while he was the head of state. While serving in the British Regiment he toured Kenya.
Amin's rule was characterised by gross human rights abuse, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is estimated by international observers and human rights groups to range from 100,000 to 500,000. During his years in power, Amin shifted in allegiance from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable Israeli support to being backed by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, the Soviet Union and East Germany.
Plot
The story of the hijacking of Air France Flight AF139 on 27 June 1976 from Athens and the subsequent mission to rescue the hostages from the airport terminal at Entebbe in Uganda. The movie contains interviews with former hostages, including Captain Bacos who (together with his crew) refused to abandon his passengers as well those who planned the rescue mission and those executed it.
Keywords: airplane-hijack, brutality, central-africa, entebbe-uganda, hostage, israel, place-name-in-title, rescue, uganda