The incident began when flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX en route from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, issued a general emergency squawk code (7700) roughly two hours into its journey. Minutes later, the code switched to 7500, the international signal for unlawful interference or hijacking, before returning to the general emergency code. According to flight tracking data from Flightradar24, the aircraft rapidly descended more than 17,000 feet in under two minutes before diverting from its path over Jordan and landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held urgent consultations, and Israeli Air Force fighter jets were scrambled. The Israeli Defence Forces chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, held a situational assessment with senior officers. Israeli officials initially told local media the emergency was not a hijacking but stemmed from an altercation between the plane's two pilots. Netanayhu's office later said the situation was under control and that Israel was working to bring the passengers home.
flydubai confirmed the flight had "experienced an incident while en route" and landed safely, stating teams were "working closely with the relevant authorities." Further details were withheld pending an investigation.
Accounts from passengers on the flight, however, paint a far more graphic picture. One passenger told Israeli media network Channel 12, reported by The Times of Israel: "We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife."
Yasmin Abu Kasis told Australian media her daughter Miriam, a passenger on the flight, reported hearing screaming and seeing a man take a knife and force the pilot to the floor, with blood visible. Passengers also reported hearing shouts from those who heard the altercation, and that the plane dipped steeply before landing.
A video later circulated on social media that was reported by The Guardian. It showed a passenger with blood streaming from a wound on his head. "We are here during an attack on the plane," the man said in Hebrew. "We just subdued the terrorists and are preparing to land." The Guardian also reported that an Israeli minister later claimed a 'terrorist' had wanted to crash the plane, directly contradicting the initial official narrative of a simple feud between the pilots.
Passengers waiting on the tarmac at Tabuk told media they were surrounded by Saudi security forces. Israel has no formal diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, adding a complex diplomatic layer to the repatriation effort.