The boats had been paid for by the Israeli government but had not been delivered due to the French arms embargo in 1969.

[1] The Israeli naval command had reached the conclusion by the early 1960s that their old Second World War-era destroyers, frigates and corvettes were obsolete and new ships and vessels were needed.

Due to Arab League pressure on the West German government, this plan was not continued and a new builder was sought.

[3] The administrative and operational side was headed by then-Captain Binyamin (Bini) Telem, who later became the Israeli Navy's commander in chief during the Yom Kippur war.

[4] In 1968, Israeli paratroopers commanded by then-Colonel Raphael Eitan (who later became IDF chief of staff), carried out a raid on Beirut airport during operations against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

In response, French President Charles de Gaulle ordered a full arms embargo on Israel.

President de Gaulle was irritated by what he considered an Israeli lack of respect for Franco-Israeli agreements and he was eager to reinforce France's relations with the Arab world.

The resignation of de Gaulle and the election of Georges Pompidou to be the president of France inspired hope among the Israelis.

The boats were sold and transferred legally by the government of Israel to the front company with the approval of Michel Debré, the French Defense Minister.

Israeli skeleton crews took over the boats and maintained a routine of short voyages, heading north into the Atlantic.

"[7][8] Prior to the escape, the boats had to be fuelled with a large amount of diesel and stocked with enough food to sustain an eight-day voyage.

Commander Rinat, the head of operations, instead ordered the boats to be gradually fuelled using a small 5-ton tank truck.

The supply officer bought fresh and dry food from local grocery stores to stock on the boats.

Meanwhile, the ZIM navigation company Europe Lines were approached to help in providing fuel, once the boats had left Cherbourg.

The main difficulty at this stage of the plan was the conversion of MV Lea into a fuelling ship carrying 200,000 litres of light diesel fuel.

The captain of MV Dan was Yosef Dror, a retired navy commander and Shayetet 13 commando frogman.

[8] The Israelis feared that the boats could sink while sailing through the Bay of Biscay in severe winter conditions.

Captain Hadar Kimhi received urgent coded messages from Israel ordering him to set sail despite the weather, but he decided to wait.

The empty berths and an absence of any announcement of the embargo's termination caused speculation that Israel had taken the boats.

During fuelling by MV Lea at Gibraltar, one of the Israeli Navy crew members mistakenly allowed water into the fuel tanks of INS Hetz (Arrow).

The boats were spotted by television crews in the Mediterranean as they travelled fast towards Israel, hugging the coast of North Africa.

[12] Near Crete, Israeli Air Force F-4 Phantom fighters met up with the boats and flew low overhead in escort.

French Defence Minister Michel Debré ordered an air strike to sink the boats.

French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann warned that if the boats appeared in Israel, "the consequences will be very grave indeed".

They were brought into the navy and armed with Gabriel missiles and ECM and EW systems produced by MABAT and RAFAEL.

The flotilla's working up was overseen by Captain Hadar Kimhi, who was later promoted to commodore commanding the Naval base of Haifa.