ISRAEL are preparing to launch a celebrated special forces unit modelled on Britain’s SAS to rescue hostages in Gaza.
The Sayeret Matkal are the prime special forces unit of Israel and experts in hostage recovery.
IDF (Israel Defense Forces)Israel’s special forces unit, the Sayeret Matkal, are modelled on the SAS[/caption]
IDF (Israel Defence Forces)Their most famous rescue mission was the 1976 Entebbe airport raid in Uganda, when its troops saved 100 Israelis from Palestinian terrorists[/caption]
Jewish Film InstituteLt. Col. Johnathan Netanyahu, right, is remembered as the leader of the daring raid at Uganda’s Entebee Airport – but was shot dead on the tarmac[/caption]
The special reconnaissance unit have been placed on standby as the Southern Levant nation prepare a daring mission to rescue more than 100 hostages from Hamas, according to the Telegraph.
Since staging a surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed, the terrorists claim they have taken at least 130 people.
They are being held as human shields in tunnels, apartments buildings and military bases to deter Israeli attacks.
Israel’s government are confident that the large number of hostages means leaks over their whereabouts are imminent, according to experts.
But bringing home the hostages safely is an extremely risky task, with casualties inevitable.
However, the Sayeret Matkal have a long history of successful rescue missions since their formation in 1957.
These include the famous 1976 Entebbe airport raid in Uganda, when its troops saved 100 Israelis from Palestinian terrorists.
Also known as Operation Thunderbolt, Israeli commandos were able to rescue 102 of 106 hostages that were taken by Palestinian/German hijackers.
The terrorists had hijacked an Air France flight of 248 passengers between Tel Aviv and Paris during a stopover in Athens, before diverting it to Libya and then Uganda.
They were joined by more than 100 Ugandan soldiers upon arrival and held hostages in order to compel the release of 40 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel and 13 prisoners in four other countries.
After releasing 148 non-Israeli hostages, the militants kept behind the 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israeli’s, and 12 Air France crew members.
Seven days after the hijacking, the Sayeret Matkal rescued 102 hostages over the course of a clinical 90 minute mission – killing all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers.
However, Yonatan Netanyahu, the commander of the Sayaret Matkal during the mission and brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was shot dead on the tarmac.
He later became a national hero and to this day, the operation is seen as perhaps the most daring Israeli military exploit ever.
There have also been another six successful hostage rescue missions, with the first of those coming four years prior in 1972.
The unit freed hostages on a Sabena airliner at the Tel Aviv Airport in May that year, in another daring mission called Operation Isotope.
It was the result of another hijacking involving Palestinians, this time from four members of the Black September Organisation.
Two men and two women who pretended to be couples were demanding the release of 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel.
They were armed with two handguns, two hand grenades and two belts of explosives and threatened to blow up the aeroplane with its passengers.
A team of 16 commandos disguised as maintenance personnel managed to take control of the airliner after storming it and killing both male hijackers in two minutes.
Since the Sayeret Matkal’s first known operation in 1968, there have been another 21 placed on record, with the latest coming in 2017 during an infiltration into Syria.
And it isn’t just hostage rescuing that they specialise in, with the special forces group no strangers to counter-terrorism operations.
The special forces soldiers also fought in the Yom Kippur war of 1973, when they recaptured Mount Hermon from Syrian commandos and rescued Lt. Col. Yossi Ben Hanan behind enemy lines.
That same year, they led a raid called Operation Spring of Youth into Lebanon in 1973.
Disguised as a woman, commando Eudm Barak directed the unit to assassinate three Palestinian leaders.
The Sayeret Matkal are also credited with the assassination of Palestinian leader Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir, known as Abu Jihad, in 1988.
After a year of planning, the Israeli special forces unit stormed his home in the Tunisian capital of Tunis during the early hours of the morning.
Having tracked his movements and tapped his telephone lines, a naval flotilla backed by air cover dropped commandos on the Tunisian coast before Mossad agents drove them to Abu’s home to kill him.
The Sayeret Matkal were also involved in the second Lebanon war of 2006, although the precise objectives of Operation Sharp and Smooth remain classified.
The raid on a hospital in the city of Baalbek, which was being used as a Hezbollah headquarters, saw a number of Lebanese, including Hezbollah and armed Lebanese Communist Party members, killed.
The Sayeret Matkal are also known for being among the first military units to use the famous Israeli Uzi submachine gun.
Developed in the late 1940s, it has a folding stock and pistol-type grip for greater balance and accuracy.
When called upon, the Sayeret Matkal will be hoping to rescue as many of the innocent people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has vowed to raze Gaza to the ground as it launched 250 airstrikes in just one hour into its “Nest of Terror”.
However, Hamas have chillingly warned that they will kill a hostage for each new Israeli attack.
It’s understood that at least 17 Brits, including children, are dead or missing after the terrorist group stormed Israel.
IDF (Israel Defense Forces)The insignia of Sayeret Matkal – the Israel elite special forces[/caption]
IDF (Israel Defense Forces)The Sayeret Matkal have a long history of successful rescue missions since their formation in 1957[/caption]
The Sayeret Matkal killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers in their daring Operation Thunderbolt mission in 1976Getty
AFPIn May 1972, Ehud Barak is pictured dressed in a serviceman uniform as a fighter in a special anti-terror unit, participating in the storming of the hijacked Sabena airlines[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
