The Special Force Behind Israel's Rescue Operations
As the hostage crisis worsens amid the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war, Israel's most elite special operations force, Sayeret Matkal, is being prepped for extremely dangerous hostage-rescue missions in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas group took over 100 Israeli hostages after launching a terror attack from land, air and sea. All the hostages have been kept at Hamas hideouts across the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The Sayeret Matkal is modelled on the UK's Special Air Service, or SAS, a special forces unit of the British army known for its daring operations during the first Gulf War in 1990-91 and the rescue of hostages from the Iranian embassy in London in 1980. Sayeret Matkal soldiers also took part in the daring raid on Entebbe, when they rescued 103 Jewish hostages from an airport in Uganda, where a hijacked plane had landed.
