What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening, the Israeli prime minister said the stabbed pilot, passengers and second crew had “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster”.

He also said that the pilot who attacked his colleague was from Oman and that he expected the man to be taken back to the UAE once he had been interrogated by Saudi authorities. “We’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” he added.

Netanyahu said Israel did not have any warning or advance intelligence about the incident. “What we had was a lot of information streaming in that Iran’s proxies, in particular Hezbollah and Hamas, were planning attacks against Israel and Israeli civilians abroad,” he explained.

Asked by Fox News whether there was any indication of Iran’s involvement, he replied: “It’s too early to say.”

Investigators are looking into the motives of the attacker, including whether he was connected to a state actor or armed group.

On Thursday, Netanyahu told Fox that, after being subdued, the attacker called out to the crew, “Kill me, kill me!” He added: “So, it’s clear that he was suicidal… It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane.”

He also said the attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination”.

The UAE’s foreign ministry said a team of public prosecutors had been ordered to examine “all circumstances and motives surrounding the incident, including any possible connection to terrorist activity or intent, and whether it involved prior planning or direction”, according to state news agency WAM.

Flydubai said in a statement that the underlying reasons and motives behind the incident remained unknown and warned against “premature speculation”.

The airline also said it had suspended flights to and from Israel while the investigation continued.

Israeli authorities are also increasing security checks on pilots flying to the country in response to the incident.

The incident has heightened security fears in Israel ahead of the third anniversary of the deadly Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, which triggered the Gaza war, and a general election later this month.