Too early to say what motive for Dubai-Tel Aviv flight attack was, Israeli PM says

It is too early to say why a pilot stabbed another pilot and tried to take over a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel's prime minister has said.

The Flydubai plane plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) two hours into its journey on Wednesday morning during the attack, before passengers and crew overpowered the pilot and retook control to land safely.

The stabbed pilot, named as Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, was taken to hospital but is in a stable condition. He has been hailed as a "true hero" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After landing, passengers described the moment they broke into the cockpit, the sound of screams and seeing blood.

Describing the event as "a serious security incident," Netanyahu said the alleged attacker was arrested in Saudi Arabia.

Authorities have yet to give a motive for the attacking pilot, but the Israeli prime minister added it was "too early to say" if there was any indication of Iran's involvement.

Speaking to Fox News later on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he expected the attacker would be taken to the United Arab Emirates, where the plane took off.

He told CNN that Israel did not have any warning or advance intelligence about the incident on the plane, which was flying 174 people to Israel.

The passengers, who were almost all Israeli, arrived later on Wednesday in Tel Aviv on a repatriation flight.

Machchhar - the stabbed pilot - has been hailed as a "hero" by Netanyahu and India's leader Narendra Modi.

"Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker - preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster," Netanyahu wrote on X.

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was in a stable condition in hospital.

Modi praised the pilot's actions, writing on X: "In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.

"India is proud of Captain Machchhar."

US President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Netanyahu following the incident, saying it seemed as though the attacker was "perhaps a terrorist" or there were other reasons behind the attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has also called it an "attempted jihadist terror attack", without giving any details.

Flydubai's flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport in the UAE at 03:05 GMT (07:05 local time), en route to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel.

Around two and a half hours into its journey, data from flight tracking website Flightrader24 reported a rapid descent over Saudi Arabia, dropping more than 17,000 feet (over 5,000m) in less than two minutes.

Minutes later, the plane signalled an emergency code - squawk 7700 - before switching it to a squawk 7500 code reporting a hijacking.

Around 20 minutes after these codes were signalled, the plane looped back into Saudi Arabia, where it later started its manual descent for landing.

Less than an hour later, the plane returned to squawk 7700.

Shortly after the incident, the Israeli and Saudi Arabian air forces dispatched fighter jets, while Netanyahu held urgent consultations.

Initial media reports suggested a fight had broken out between the aircraft's two pilots, causing the rapid descent and landing.

However, in the hours after the plane touched down in Tabuk, eyewitness accounts and a statement by Netanyahu confirmed one of the pilots had stabbed the other and, according to the Israeli prime minister, "apparently tried to crash" the aircraft.

He said an Israeli passenger told him "the plane went into a spin and began to descend" before the passenger and a crew member entered the cockpit and overpowered the "pilot who had carried out the stabbing".

Two on-duty crew travelling on the flight were then able to land the plane safely, Flydubai said.

In an address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu called the situation "a very serious security incident" and said Israeli security forces were "maintaining close contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety of the passengers".

Unlike Israel's defence minister, Netanyahu did not give a motive for the incident during the address.

"I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage," he added. "They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster."

Flydubai said in a statement that "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and the flight was "successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport".

An airline spokesperson added: "Our immediate priority is to ensure the ongoing safety, health, and wellbeing of all passengers and crew members involved in this incident and support the official investigation."

The passengers who had been on board flight FZ1073 arrived in Tel Aviv at around 18:40 local time (15:40 GMT). They were greeted at the airport by crowds of onlookers playing music, singing, dancing and waving Israeli flags.

A number of people were "very emotional and crying as they came off the plane," a paramedic from Israel's ambulance service told the BBC.

One passenger, Yaniv Hayun, met Netanyahu and told him how he and others on the flight had restrained the attacker.

"The pilot who was stabbed was simply very close to the door, so it was hard for us to open it," Hayun said in a video posted on social media by the prime minister's office, but before the stabbed pilot - now identified as Machchhar - collapsed, he was able to open the door.

Yaniv said he put the attacker, who was trying to disable the plane, in a chokehold before other passengers helped pin him down.

He added that he "pulled the controls" of the plane and after it levelled out, another pilot took over control.

Zvika Meness, another passenger, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan News that he and other passengers tied the attacker up "with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones".

He said: "There are children and families here who have been through a very severe, highly traumatic event."