Israel received its first four A-4 Skyhawks on December 19, 1967, assigning them to the 109th Valley Squadron. These early A-4H Ayit models lacked the dorsal electronics hump. The first flight took place on January 1, 1968, with BuNo. 155244 (#03), which also flew the first operational sortie on February 15.

During the War of Attrition (1969–1970), Col. Dotan, known as "Mr. Skyhawk," shot down two Syrian MiG-17s over Lebanon in #03. The aircraft was later downed by an Egyptian SAM on October 18, 1973, though the pilot was rescued. Israel eventually operated 278 Skyhawks, making it the type’s largest export customer.