Editing Entebbe raid (section)

==Israeli response==

=== Diplomatic efforts ===
In the week before the raid, Israel tried using political avenues to obtain the release of the hostages. Many sources indicate that the [[Cabinet of Israel|Israeli cabinet]] was prepared to release Palestinian prisoners if a military solution seemed unlikely to succeed. A retired IDF officer, Baruch "Burka" Bar-Lev, had known Idi Amin for many years and was considered to have a strong personal relationship with him. At the request of the cabinet, he spoke with Amin on the phone many times, trying to gain the release of the hostages, without success.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930121748/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914380,00.html "Vindication for the Israelis"]. ''Time''. 26 July 1976.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071016182522/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914382,00.html "War of Words over a Tense Border"]. ''Time''. 26 July 1976.</ref> The Israeli government also approached the United States government to deliver a message to Egyptian president [[Anwar Sadat]], asking him to request that Amin release the hostages.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS%5Ckissinger%5C0000C08F.pdf |title=Conversation between Henry Kissinger and Israeli Ambassador Simch Dinitz, 30 June 1976 |access-date=24 July 2011 |archive-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913032323/https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS%5Ckissinger%5C0000C08F.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prime minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] and defence minister [[Shimon Peres]] spent one week disagreeing on whether to give in to the hijackers' demands (Rabin's position) or not, to prevent more terrorism (Peres' position).<ref name="Telegraph_David">{{cite news |author=David |first=Saul |author-link=Saul David |date=27 June 2015 |title=Israel's raid on Entebbe was almost a disaster |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11701064/Israels-raid-on-Entebbe-was-almost-a-disaster.html |access-date=9 February 2018 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

At the 1 July deadline<ref>Grimes, Paul. [https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/30/archives/rescuing-the-entebbe-hostages.html "Rescuing the Entebbe Hostages"]. ''The New York Times''. Friday, 30 July 1976. (The Weekend, p. 51).</ref> the Israeli cabinet offered to negotiate with the hijackers to extend the deadline to 4 July. Amin also asked them to extend the deadline until that date. This meant he could take a diplomatic trip to [[Port Louis]], Mauritius, to officially hand over chairmanship of the [[Organisation of African Unity]] to [[Seewoosagur Ramgoolam]].<ref>Lipkin-Shakhak, Tali. [http://www.historama.com/online-resources/articles/israel/dan_shomron_on_1976_entebbe_raid.html "The Forgotten Hero of Entebbe"]. Historama. 16 June 2006.</ref> This extension of the hostage deadline proved crucial to providing Israeli forces enough time to get to Entebbe.<ref name="General Dan Shomron" />

On 3 July at 18:30, the Israeli cabinet approved a rescue mission,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/archives/hostages-freed-as-israelis-raid-uganda-airport-commandos-in-3.html|title=Hostages Freed as Israelis Raid Uganda Airport |last=Terence|first=Smith | work=The New York Times | date=4 July 1976 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> presented by [[Aluf|Major General]] [[Yekutiel Adam]] and Brigadier General [[Dan Shomron]]. Shomron was appointed as the operation commander.<ref name=ediary>{{cite web|url=http://dover.idf.il/IDF/console/article_page.aspx?doc_id=23016&lang=english|title=Israel Defense Forces&nbsp;– Entebbe Diary|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209010738/http://dover.idf.il/IDF/console/article_page.aspx?doc_id=23016&lang=english|archive-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

===Egyptian–PLO involvement and failure of diplomacy===
As the crisis unfolded, attempts were made to negotiate the release of the hostages. According to declassified diplomatic documents, the Egyptian government under Sadat tried to negotiate with both the PLO and the Ugandan government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=172177&dt=2082&dl=1345 |title=Herman Eilts (US Ambassador to Egypt) to Secretary of State, 6 July 1976 |access-date=24 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=181803&dt=2082&dl=1345 |title=Herman Eilts (US Ambassador to Egypt) to Secretary of State, 9 July 1976 |access-date=24 July 2011}}</ref> PLO chairman [[Yasser Arafat]] sent his political aide [[Hani al-Hassan]] to Uganda as a special envoy to negotiate with the hostage takers and with Amin.<ref name="Hartuv"/> However, the PFLP-EO hijackers refused to see him.<ref name=NouvelObs>{{cite news |last1=Chabalier|first1=Hervé|title=Israël: le prix d'un exploit |newspaper=Le Nouvel Observateur |date=12 July 1976 |page=25 |url=http://referentiel.nouvelobs.com/archives_pdf/OBS0609_19760712/OBS0609_19760712_025.pdf |language=fr}}</ref>

===Israel's military preparations===
When Israeli authorities failed to negotiate a political solution, they decided that their only option was an attack to rescue the hostages. Lt. Col. [[Joshua Shani]], lead pilot of the operation, later said that the Israelis had initially conceived of a rescue plan that involved dropping naval commandos into [[Lake Victoria]]. The commandos would have ridden rubber boats to the airport on the edge of the lake. They planned to kill the hijackers and after freeing the hostages, they would ask Amin for passage home. The Israelis abandoned this plan because they lacked the necessary time and also because they had received word that Lake Victoria was inhabited by the [[Nile crocodile]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Israel Defense Forces: A People's Army |last=Williams |first=Louis |year=2000 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-14353-5 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSsxPDuQy8YC&q=%22rubber+boats%22+Entebbe+%22Lake+Victoria%22&pg=PA131 |access-date=27 December 2012}}</ref>

[[Amnon Biran]], the mission's intelligence officer, later stated that the proper layout of the airport was unknown, as was the exact location of the hostages and whether the building had been prepared with explosives.<ref name="Telegraph_David"/>

====Aircraft refuelling====
While planning the raid, the Israeli forces had to plan how to refuel the [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules]] aircraft they intended to use while en route to Entebbe. The Israelis lacked the logistical capacity to [[Aerial refueling|aerially refuel]] four to six aircraft so far from Israeli airspace. While several East African nations, including the logistically preferred choice Kenya, were sympathetic, none wished to incur the wrath of Amin or the Palestinians by allowing the Israelis to land their aircraft within their borders.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

The raid could not proceed without assistance from at least one East African government. The Israeli government secured permission from Kenya for the IDF task force to cross Kenyan airspace and refuel at what is today [[Jomo Kenyatta International Airport]]. Kenyan [[Ministry of Agriculture (Kenya)|Minister of Agriculture]] [[Bruce Mackenzie (British intelligence operative)|Bruce MacKenzie]] persuaded Kenyan President [[Jomo Kenyatta]] to permit Mossad to collect intelligence prior to the operation, and to allow the [[Israeli Air Force]] access to the Nairobi airport.<ref name="jpost1">{{cite news|last=Melman |first=Yossi |url=http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Analysis-Israel-and-Kenya-blood-ties-326880 |title=A history of cooperation between Israel and Kenya |work=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=26 September 2013}}</ref> MacKenzie's support for the operation came after [[Sir Maurice Oldfield]], the then head of [[United Kingdom|Britain's]] [[MI6]] intelligence agency, put his contacts in Mossad in touch with MacKenzie, who had been an MI6 contact for some time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pearce |first1=Martin |title=Spymaster: the Life of Britain's Most Decorated Cold War Spy and Head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield |date=2016 |publisher=Bantam Press |location=London |page=285 |edition=1}}</ref> The Jewish owner of the Block hotels chain in Kenya, along with other members of the Jewish and Israeli community in [[Nairobi]], may also have used their political and economic influence to help persuade Kenya's President Jomo Kenyatta to help Israel.<ref>{{cite book |title=Entebbe: The Most Daring Raid of Israel's Special Forces |last=Dunstan |first=Simon |year=2011 |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4488-1868-6 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KrL9bHLpOq4C&q=Entebbe+%22Jomo+Kenyatta+airport%22&pg=PA53 |access-date=27 December 2012}}</ref>

Uganda's ambassador to [[Lesotho]], [[Isaac Lumago]],<ref name= eichner>{{cite news| url = https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4824146,00.html| title = Idi Amin's son: 'My dream is to meet with Entebbe victims' families to apologize'| last = Eichner| first = Itamar| date = 4 July 2016| newspaper = Ynetnews| access-date = 12 August 2019}}</ref> overheard some of the details of the operation from [[Kenya Air Force]] officers who were discussing the possibility of Israeli compensation for the assistance and forwarded the information to Ugandan commander [[Isaac Maliyamungu]]. Maliyamungu did not alert Amin or take any action on the intelligence,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://cija.ca/operation-thunderbolt/| title = Operation Thunderbolt: Daring and Luck| last = Alexander| first = Ben| date = 4 July 2016| publisher = [[Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs]]| access-date = 17 April 2019| archive-date = 17 April 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190417165936/https://cija.ca/operation-thunderbolt/| url-status = dead}}</ref> allegedly dismissing the report as "gasiya" (rubbish).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/PeoplePower/Maliyamungu-gatekeeper-Amin--man-Farouk-Minawa/689844-5230706-56fjh9z/index.html| title = Rise of Maliyamungu from gatekeeper to Amin's right-hand man| last = Ocen| first = Felix| date = 11 August 2019| website = Daily Monitor| access-date = 12 August 2019}}</ref> According to Amin's son, Jaffar Remo, the Ugandan president still managed to receive Lumago's warning via telephone and, after completing his responsibilities at the OAU meeting, boarded a plane and flew back to Uganda.<ref name= eichner/> An ex-agent of Uganda's intelligence service, the [[State Research Bureau (organisation)|State Research Bureau]], also claimed that Amin was informed by Lumago of the imminent raid. The agent stated that Amin was terrified of possible reprisals in case his troops actually fought the Israeli military, allegedly resulting in his ordering that the [[Uganda Army (1971–1980)|Uganda Army]] should not open fire on Israeli aircraft during a possible raid.{{sfn|Seftel|2010|p=216}}

====Mossad intelligence====
Mossad built an accurate picture of the whereabouts of the hostages, the number of hijackers, and the involvement of Ugandan troops, based on information from the released hostages in Paris.<ref name="TimeMagazine">{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914272,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050114102848/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914272,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 January 2005|title=The Rescue: 'We Do the Impossible' |date=12 July 1976|magazine=Time|access-date=26 July 2009}}</ref> Further, Israeli firms had been involved in construction projects in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s: while preparing the raid, the Israeli army consulted with [[Solel Boneh]], a large Israeli construction firm that had built the terminal where the hostages were held.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wars and Operations: Operation Thunderball ("Entebbe")|url=http://www.iaf.org.il/4694-33040-he/IAF.aspx|publisher=[[Israel Air Force]](official website)|language=he}}</ref> While planning the military operation, the IDF erected a partial replica of the airport terminal with the assistance of civilians who had helped build the original.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

IDF major [[Muki Betser]] later remarked in an interview that Mossad operatives extensively interviewed the hostages who had been released. He said that a French-Jewish passenger who had a military background and "a phenomenal memory" had provided detailed information about the number of weapons carried by the hostage-takers.<ref name="betzer">{{Cite news |date=4 July 2006 |title=Israel marks 30th anniversary of Entebbe |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-04-palestinian-pressure_x.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060706021957/https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-04-palestinian-pressure_x.htm |archive-date=6 July 2006 |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

==== Task force ====
The Israeli ground task force numbered approximately 100 personnel, and comprised the following elements:<ref name="ediary" />

===== Ground command and control =====
:This small group comprised the operation and overall ground commander, [[Dan Shomron|Brigadier General Dan Shomron]], the air force representative Colonel Ami Ayalon and the communications and support personnel.

===== Assault =====
:A 29-person assault unit led by Lt. Col. [[Yonatan Netanyahu]] – this force was composed entirely of commandos from [[Sayeret Matkal]], and was given the primary task of assaulting the old terminal and rescuing the hostages. Major Betser led one of the element's assault teams, and took command after Lt. Col. Netanyahu was killed.

===== Securers =====
:# The [[Paratroopers Brigade|Paratroopers]] force led by [[Matan Vilnai|Col. Matan Vilnai]] – tasked with securing the civilian airport field, clearing and securing the runways, and protection and fuelling of the Israeli aircraft in Entebbe.
:# The [[Golani Brigade|Golani]] force led by [[Uri Sagi|Col. Uri Sagi]] – tasked with securing the C-130 Hercules aircraft for the hostages' evacuation, getting it as close as possible to the terminal and boarding the hostages; also with acting as general reserves.
:# The [[Sayeret Matkal]] force led by [[Shaul Mofaz|Major Shaul Mofaz]] – tasked with clearing the military airstrip, and destroying the squadron of [[MiG]] fighter jets on the ground, to prevent any possible interceptions by the [[Ugandan Air Force|Uganda Army Air Force]]; also with holding off hostile [[ground forces]] from the city of Entebbe.