Israel probes Flydubai cockpit incident after hijack alert

What the report says

Israeli security agencies are investigating an onboard incident involving a Flydubai passenger flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv that triggered an emergency signal, descended sharply and was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to The Independent Uganda’s report based on Xinhua. The aircraft, Flight FZ 1073, later landed at Tabuk Airport, and the airline said all passengers were safe and accounted for.

The report said Israeli media, citing an official, described the matter as still under review and said authorities were not ruling out a possible security-related event. Officials were also examining whether a physical confrontation between the two pilots may have contributed to the emergency response. One pilot was reported injured, though the article did not give further details on the extent of the injury.

A video shared on social media showed an injured passenger saying people aboard the plane were under attack and that the situation had been brought under control before landing. However, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the incident was not believed to be a hijacking. The episode matters because it raised immediate security concerns on a commercial flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that has drawn attention in the region since the normalization of some Arab-Israeli ties. That broader context is general background and not specific to this report.