When Saddam's uncle, Khairallah Talfah, was discovered to be terminally ill, the Israelis investigated the possibility of using a commando team to ambush the funeral party. A commando team from the Israeli Army's elite Sayeret Matkal special forces unit was to be inserted into Iraq from Jordan, where they would travel to the funeral near Tikrit and kill Saddam with TV-guided "Midras" missiles.[4][5]