Israel has not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack aboard a Flydubai flight, according to CNN sources

Israeli authorities suspect that the incident aboard a Flydubai flight, which made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after alarm signals were triggered, may have been an attempted terrorist attack, CNN reports, citing two Israeli officials and another source in Israel familiar with the situation.

Information gathered by Israel indicates that during the flight, the co-pilot attacked the captain with a knife, one of the channel’s sources said. According to him, one of the passengers helped subdue the attacker.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his scheduled events to hold consultations with the country's top security officials regarding this incident, a source said.

On September 30, a Boeing 737 passenger plane operated by the Emirati airline Flydubai was en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv but made an emergency landing in the city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg. The airline stated that the cause was an “incident on board” and that all passengers are safe.

It is not yet clear exactly what happened on board. Authorities have also not disclosed the reasons for the change in route. A spokesperson for Netanyahu initially ruled out the possibility of an attempted hijacking, but two hours later reported that this assessment had changed, without providing further details, the agency reports.

According to the flight-tracking service Flightradar, the Flydubai aircraft transmitted several distress signals—first, the general emergency code 7700, followed by code 7500, which indicates unauthorized interference with flight controls and may suggest a possible hijacking. The aircraft subsequently switched back to code 7700. Apparently, less than 30 seconds before the first signal was transmitted, the plane suddenly descended nearly 14,000 feet (about 4,300 meters), Reuters reports, citing Flightradar.

Reuters, citing an Israeli official, reports that the crew sent out distress signals following a fight between the pilots. Another woman interviewed by the agency, whose daughter was on board, said her daughter saw a man with a knife who knocked one of the pilots to the floor, and there was a lot of blood.

According to the service, the Boeing 737 began a sharp descent at 9:21 a.m. Dubai time, nearly three hours into the flight, after which it made several abrupt changes in altitude. After briefly entering Jordanian airspace, the aircraft made a 180-degree turn and headed southwest toward Tabuk, located near the border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli government has stated that all measures are being taken to ensure the safe return of Israelis from Saudi Arabia. According to Israeli media reports, there were about 150 passengers from Israel on board, Reuters notes. Israel has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

The incident highlighted potential risks on a route that has become popular among Israelis since relations between the UAE and Israel normalized six years ago, Reuters reports. FlyDubai, a subsidiary of Emirates, launched flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai in late 2020 and has since increased the frequency to 70 flights per week.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor