On July 4, 1976, Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, the older brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was killed during the famous ‘Operation Entebbe’, officially known as Operation Thunderbolt, later renamed Operation Yonatan in his honor.
The events leading to his death began on June 27, 1976, when Air France Flight 139, traveling from Tel Aviv to Paris with a stopover in Athens, was hijacked by two Palestinians and two German militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary Cells.
The hijackers diverted the plane to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where they received overwhelming support from dictator Idi Amin’s administration.
Yoni Netanyahu Leads Operation to Rescue Israeli Passengers Held Captive
At the old terminal building, the hijackers separated Israeli and Jewish passengers from others, threatening to kill them if Israel did not release 40 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and 13 others in foreign prisons.
Upon learning that an aircraft with Israeli passengers had been hijacked, the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres, approved a rescue operation after intelligence confirmed the hostages’ location and the layout of the terminal.
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The mission was led by Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, commander of Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, with about 100 Israeli commandos involved. Netanyahu and his team flew over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Israel to Entebbe in a covert nighttime operation.
Yoni Succumbs to Gunshot Wounds
The Israeli commandos touched down at Entebbe Airport just after midnight on July 4, 1976. To maintain the element of surprise, they employed a clever tactic: they drove a black Mercedes that resembled Idi Amin’s official car, followed closely by Land Rovers, to deceive the Ugandan guards into thinking the president had arrived.
Moments later, the commandos stormed the terminal, swiftly eliminating the seven hijackers and several Ugandan soldiers who tried to fight back. The hostages were then freed and quickly escorted onto the waiting aircraft for evacuation.
As the commandos were retreating to the aircraft, Ugandan soldiers opened fire from the nearby control tower and airport building.
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Netanyahu was shot outside and sustained serious injuries. He succumbed to his gunshot wounds while receiving medical treatment on the flight back to Israel. He was the only Israeli soldier killed during the entire operation.
In the aftermath of the rescue, all 102 hostages were saved (three were killed during the raid, and one elderly woman, who had been taken to a hospital earlier, was later killed by Ugandan soldiers). The Israeli commandos destroyed Uganda’s MiG fighter jets on the tarmac to prevent pursuit. Yoni Netanyahu remains the only Israeli soldier killed in action during this operation.
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