A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, after an apparent struggle between its pilots prompted distress signals that briefly raised fears of an attempted hijacking.
An Israeli minister described it as a “terrorist” incident aimed at killing Israelis aboard the Boeing 737 which was carrying up to 180 passengers.
Israeli media have reported dramatic testimonies and video from people on board, with some describing passengers storming the cockpit to subdue the attacker and one of the pilots being seriously injured.
The Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said the incident highlighted the need for Israel to escalate its military campaigns across the region.
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“Thank God and the heroic passengers, but Israel’s security doctrine must be taken to the next level,” he wrote on X, adding that the country “must continue until achieving total victory” in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“The naive notion that our enemies value life and deserve our pity was given yet another stark reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to blow up a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board.”
Similarly, the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that “anyone who tried to bring down a plane and murder 180 Israelis should pay as though they had murdered them – as should any country or terrorist organisation that sent them”.
According to the Israeli Hareetz newspaper, citing an unnamed official, authorities are treating the incident as a “terror” incident and “believe that one of the pilots may have purposefully attempted to crash the plane”. The newspaper added that other scenarios were also being considered.
Commenting this morning, the office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the situation was “under control” while measures are being taken to bring the passengers to Israel.
Local media reported the military had scrambled fighter jets after fears of a possible hijacking, which the prime minister’s office had ruled out shortly after the incident came to light.
The FlyDubai flight was over Jordan when it dipped dramatically during the reported fight, descending about 16,000ft in just two minutes.
Israeli government agency officials said it appeared that the pilot and co-pilot had gotten into a fight and one of them sent a distress signal before the plane landed.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose what they knew about the episode. The cause of the clash was not immediately clear.
Passengers described a melee that left at least one crew member bleeding and that ended when some of them stepped in. Social media videos that appeared to be from the plane’s cabin show a wounded man and others on board covered in blood.
It was not immediately possible to verify those reports. Pictures of a passenger with blood on their shirt were published by Israeli media.
An unnamed passenger told the Jerusalem Post that one pilot was stabbed by another, but passengers near the front of the plane helped force the attacker from the cockpit.
The witness said two other pilots were on board, at the back of the plane.
“I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane,” the passenger told the Jerusalem Post.
The passenger also said the injured pilot was given life-saving care by a dentist on the flight.
The pilot and co-pilot were hospitalised in Saudi Arabia after sustaining injuries, according to a statement from officials at Tabuk airport.
A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office initially said that the flight diversion was not because of a hijack attempt; authorities later said they were investigating the incident.
Israeli media quoted anonymous officials saying they were investigating whether one of the pilots had tried to crash the plane in an apparent attempted suicide, before being stopped by members of the flight crew. The officials also said they were considering the possibility that the incident was an attempt to attack Israelis, but investigations were still continuing.
The head of the Israeli military, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, postponed his planned visit to the US next week over the incident, where he was meant to have a meeting with US joint chiefs of staff and the head of US Central Command.
All passengers were safe, while both the captain and the co-pilot were taken to hospital for treatment, a statement by a Saudi aviation authority said. The Israeli air force was waiting for permission from Saudi Arabia to fly the stranded passengers back to Israel.
Yasmin Abu Kaiss, whose daughter was on the flight, told Reuters her daughter said she had heard screaming and a man with a knife had put a pilot on the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.
The incident came just days after Netanyahu, warned there were indications an attack would be carried out during Israel’s October elections. The Israeli military, quoted by Israeli media, said that they had no intelligence that an attack was being planned on Israel.
Israel experienced a series of hijackings and attacks on planes by Palestinian militants in the 1960s and 1970s, but has not experienced anything similar in decades. Israel maintains some of the strictest airport security procedures in the world, including security checks before passengers board Israel-bound flights.
Flights between Dubai and Israel started after the two countries normalised ties in 2020. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, but in 2025 landed a plane in Riyadh because of a medical emergency.
Flydubai confirmed that flight FZ 1073 en route to Ben Gurion experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday. “Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the carrier said. “Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”
Israeli media reported that a later flydubai flight heading to Tel Aviv turned around in mid-air back towards Dubai after the incident. - Guardian
