Israeli–Palestinian engagement during the 1982 Lebanon War
The Bhamdoun abduction operation was a military operation carried out by Fatah, the main constituent organization of the PLO. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, a Palestinian four-man squad infiltrated the IDF-held mountainous area north of Bhamdoun, in central Lebanon, and attacked an IDF observation point, capturing the entire IDF unit without firing a single bullet. The Palestinian squad took eight Israeli soldiers as prisoners. This provided the Palestinian side with plenty of leverage in the two controversial prisoner exchanges with Israel, which freed 5,900 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.