The Israeli government decided to use force to rescue the remaining hostages and selected elite elements from the IDF to form a 280-member commando unit and urgently trained it, which consisted of, in addition to IDF special forces, the Reconnaissance Battalion (Wild Boys Special Forces), which is directly under the Israeli General Staff, and, according to some sources, speculation that a number of Mossad operatives were involved in this operation. They also had the full support of the Kenyan government, a nemesis of the Amin regime, for the operation.
After days of planning, four Israeli Air Force C-130 transport planes secretly took off from Israel, flying at very low altitude to avoid Ugandan military radar. After about eight hours, the four planes secretly landed at Entebbe International Airport in the darkness of the night, without informing the ground control tower there in advance. The four Hercules were followed by an Air Force jet carrying medical equipment. The plane was to land at Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The entire operation was authorized by Prime Minister Rabin, with paratroopers commander Shemron as commander-in-chief and Jonathan Netanyaru as the overall commander of the raid on the ground.
The commandos landed quietly at Entebbe International Airport an hour before midnight fell (July 3, 1976, 2345 Uganda time). They opened the cargo door of the plane just before landing. Inside the cargo hold was a black Mercedes and an escort of several jeeps, which the Israelis then drove out of the transport plane and straight to the old terminal. In order to avoid Ugandan suspicion, the Israelis deliberately selected the Mercedes and the other jeeps so that they would look very much like the convoy of Idi Amin or other high-ranking Ugandan officials, and the Israeli side even chose a special forces soldier to dress up as President Amin. The Mercedes was originally owned by an Israeli citizen, and was apparently painted black on the eve of the operation (so that it would almost look like Amin's car), but of course it was repainted in its original color before being returned afterwards. Meanwhile, the other two assault teams went into action
When the Israeli troops stormed the terminal, the special forces immediately shouted in Hebrew, "Get down, get down!" . The Israeli hostages heard the native language, instinctively all lie down, the militants were all of a sudden as if the reef after the ebb tide was isolated, the Israeli forces opened fire at the first opportunity, all the terrorists and Ugandan soldiers present were killed. According to aftermath statistics, the Israeli Special Forces used domestically produced "Uzi" submachine guns, and the terrorists killed were shot with an average of more than 70 bullets each. But in the process, three hostages were killed in the crossfire, one of whom was accidentally killed by the military.
While rescuing the hostages, other Israeli special forces blew up 11 MiG fighter jets parked on the tarmac, which are the mainstay of the Ugandan air force, in order to ensure that there would be no pursuit during the retreat and to be able to ensure that the hostages would be able to return home safely on flights in Kenya, and as a reward for the help of Uganda's sworn enemy, Kenya. During the raid there was an exchange of fire with the Ugandan garrison, in which the Ugandan troops suffered 45 casualties, but killed the Israeli ground commander, Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, who was the only Israeli military casualty in the operation (it is worth noting that Yonatan Netanyahu is the brother of the famous Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu). Netanyahu), the brother of prominent Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu, who served as Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999).
But overall the whole operation flowed as smoothly as it had been rehearsed in advance, with 10 minutes to seize the terminal building, 20 minutes to free the hostages, 10 minutes to inspect them and 12 minutes to return to the plane. From the time the first Israeli plane landed to the time the last of the returning Israeli planes took off, it was just 53 minutes!