Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will get to the "root" of the co-pilot who engaged in a foiled attempt to crash an Israel-bound flydubai flight and that Israel will "possibly" be participating in the probe into the incident.
Disaster was averted on yesterday's flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, which was carrying 170 passengers, after the wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers to subdue the attacker and a reserve crew that had been on board to land the plane in Saudi Arabia.
The flight plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds as it flew over Saudi Arabia before the passengers and crew managed to subdue the attacker and land the plane.
Mr Netanyahu said the attacker was being investigated in Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed at Tabuk airport, and that he believed he would be taken to the United Arab Emirates.
"We'll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation," Mr Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Asked if there was any indication of Iranian involvement, Mr Netanyahu said it was too early to say.
Netanyahu says too early to tell who is behind plane attack
"We'll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we'll find out very soon," he said.
There have been no official suggestions from Israel of Iranian involvement.
"We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination. That appears to be something we are gathering from his personal information," Mr Netanyahu told Fox News.
Two Israeli security officials said Israel's initial assessment is that the co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani national, was likely acting alone, though the investigation was still ongoing.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said yesterday that Israel's preliminary information indicated that the co-pilot aimed to crash the plane, describing him as a terrorist, though Mr Netanyahu only described it as "a serious security incident".
UAE investigating possible 'planning or direction'
The UAE has started investigations that are seeking to establish the circumstances and motives and determine "whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction", the UAE state news agency reported.
UAE judicial authorities have jurisdiction over the incident because the aircraft is registered in the UAE and flies under its flag, the statement said, adding that UAE law applies to crimes committed on board even if they occur outside the country's territory.
Yesterday, an Israeli official identified the attacker as an Omani national.
Omani authorities have not commented on the report.
Saudi Arabia has issued no statements on its investigations.
Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport said yesterday that both pilots had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries.
Flydubai said the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against "premature speculation".
The incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israeli's vote in the first election since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023, attacks, with Israel's security figuring prominently in the campaigning.
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, in a conflict that quickly spread to the Gulf and Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
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Captain in good health, hailed as a hero
The Indian pilot who was attacked in the Flydubai flight incident is in a good health and recovering well, the Indian embassy in the UAE said on X.
The embassy said the Indian ambassador to the UAE visited the pilot in hospital and it remained in close coordination with local authorities to ensure his continued medical care and well-being.
Mr Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed flight FZ1073 captain Smit Machchhar as a hero.
India's ambassador to the UAE met Captain Machchhar's family and briefed him on his health and recovery, the Indian consulate in the UAE said.
Mr Netanyahu, in his interview with Fox News, said Mr Machchhar had apparently been stabbed or hit with an axe by the other pilot and had bled profusely.
Israel has also lauded passengers who subdued the attacker.
Yaniv Hayun, one of the men who incapacitated the attacker, described running to the cockpit as the plane nosedived.
"We pulled the assailant out, I pulled him out. After I pulled him out we took control of the plane, I pulled up the yoke (steering control of the plane), I straightened the plane out a bit," he said talking to reporters upon his return to Israel yesterday.
Passengers recount what happened on plane
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