Shortest hostage rescue

On 4 July 1976, Israeli forces executed the shortest full-scale military rescue of one hundred hostages, mostly Israelis or Jews, held by pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe Airport, Uganda. An hour before midnight on 3-4 July, four air force C-130 Hercules aircraft flew into the airport after a 2,500-mile flight behind a scheduled cargo flight. An assault group consisting of 200 troops stormed the building where the hostages were being held and, after a 35-minute battle in which a number of Ugandan soldiers, seven hijackers, three hostages and the leader of the assault force were killed, the surviving hostages were flown to Israel via Nairobi, Kenya. It was a staggeringly successful operation and the entire raid took only two hours from start to finish.