Pilot who stabbed co-pilot on Israel-bound aircraft could have tried to crash it, says Netanyahu | Israel
One of the pilots of a aircraft flying from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed his co-pilot and appeared to attempt to crash the aircraft, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has mentioned, as Israeli officers mentioned they have been investigating whether or not the incident was an tried terror assault on Israelis.
The aircraft was pressured to make an emergency touchdown in Saudi Arabia, with the 2 pilots wounded however different passengers secure, in line with an announcement from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz transnational airport, extra generally referred to as Tabuk airport.
The pilot accused of finishing up the stabbing was being questioned by Saudi authorities, Netanyahu mentioned. Israel’s transport ministry mentioned it could perform a joint investigation with the defence institution.
It was not instantly clear what motivated the obvious assault, which threatened the lives of the roughly 170 passengers onboard.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, described the incident as an “tried jihadist assault”. “The terrorist had a single goal: to crash the aircraft, killing everybody onboard,” Katz mentioned, including that the assault was stopped as a result of “heroism of a number of passengers”.
The passengers of the diverted flight landed in Israel on Wednesday night on a alternative plane, eight hours after their emergency touchdown. Netanyahu praised the bravery of the crew members and passengers who subdued the attacker and landed the aircraft safely.
“They saved many lives. They prevented a heavy catastrophe,” he mentioned.
Israeli officers, talking on situation of anonymity to reporters, mentioned the attacker was an Omani nationwide and that Israel’s present evaluation of the incident was that it was a terror assault. There was no remark from Oman or the UAE.
Two and a half hours after taking off from Dubai, the aircraft despatched out an emergency sign – squawk code 7700, indicating a normal emergency – earlier than sending out one other – code 7500, indicating a possible hijacking try. Passengers heard screams from the entrance of the aircraft, and the wounded pilot managed to open the latch on the cockpit door, leaving it ajar.
The aircraft additionally started to abruptly descend, falling about 17,000ft in a two-minute span. As the aircraft started to dive, passengers and a crew member pushed their approach into the cockpit, subduing the attacker. Other crew members then stabilised the descent of the aircraft and commenced to land it safely in north-western Saudi Arabia.
Among those that intervened was an off-duty British pilot, in line with a passenger, Almog Itali, who mentioned the aircraft was carrying a pair of reduction pilots who have been meant to fly the subsequent flight.
“The reduction pilots are European, one in all them British, who entered [the cockpit] and pulled the plane up, pulled the yoke, stabilised the aircraft and landed us in Saudi Arabia,” Itali mentioned in a clip posted by the BBC.
Also amongst those that stopped the obvious assault have been Israeli safety forces and air marshals, the Associated Press reported, citing sources near the Saudi investigation into the incident.
Videos of the incident confirmed passengers screaming because the aircraft descended, in addition to a blood-covered man who seemed to be the pilot injured and on the ground.
One passenger, Miryam Shira Ohayon, informed reporters by way of her mom’s telephone at Tel Aviv airport {that a} pilot had tried to “mainly perform a suicide assault on the aircraft”, saying: “It was actually on the way in which to crashing.” She added that a physician onboard had handled the wounded pilot.
Yasmin Abu Kaiss, whose daughter was on the flight, informed Reuters her daughter mentioned she had heard screaming and a person with a knife had put a pilot on the ground, and that there was blood in all places.
Israeli officers initially scrambled fighter jets after the emergency alerts have been despatched out, fearing an assault on Israel or that the aircraft could be diverted to a 3rd nation. A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s workplace then mentioned the incident was not a hijacking, as media stories circulated of a battle between the 2 pilots.
As extra data emerged concerning the violent nature of the assault, Israeli and transnational media started to report officers anonymously saying an investigation had been opened into whether or not this was an assault on Israelis.
The head of the Israeli army, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has postponed a go to to the US over the incident, the place he was meant to have a gathering with US joint chiefs of employees and the pinnacle of US Central Command.
The incident got here simply days after Netanyahu had warned there have been indications an assault could be carried out throughout Israel’s October elections. Israel’s army, quoted by Israeli media, mentioned it had no intelligence that an assault was being deliberate.
Yair Lapid, the opposition determine and former prime minister, solid doubt on the connection between the alleged assault and Netanyahu’s warning, saying a safety briefing on Tuesday evening gave no details about any potential incident much like what occurred on Wednesday.
Israel skilled a sequence of hijackings and assaults on planes by Palestinian militants within the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies, however has not skilled something comparable in a long time. The nation maintains a number of the strictest airport safety procedures within the globe, together with safety checks earlier than passengers board Israel-bound flights.
Flights between Dubai and Israel began after the nations normalised ties in 2020. Israel doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, however in 2025 landed a aircraft in Riyadh due to a medical emergency.
Flydubai confirmed that flight FZ 1073 en path to Ben Gurion airport skilled an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday. “Our groups are working carefully with the related authorities,” the provider mentioned. “Further updates might be issued as further confirmed particulars change into obtainable.”
Israeli media reported {that a} later flydubai flight heading to Tel Aviv circled in mid-air and headed again in direction of Dubai after the incident.
