The passengers included 27 children and many Israelis. According to passenger accounts reported by Channel 12 and Ynet, the co-pilot stabbed the Emirati captain with a knife. The aircraft is said to have dropped from 34,000 feet to 15,000 feet, and its transponder briefly broadcast code 7500, the signal for unlawful interference. The Israeli Air Force scrambled fighter jets.

Those passenger accounts say travelers forced the cockpit door open, subdued the attacker and helped the wounded captain. Channel 12 also reported that an off-duty alternate crew on board took control of the aircraft. Saudi authorities are questioning the suspect.

What the attacker meant to do is disputed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held urgent consultations with Defence Minister Israel Katz, said one pilot stabbed another and tried to crash the aircraft. He did not explicitly call it a terrorist attack. A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 there were "growing indications" of a suicide attack, and Israeli security services are reportedly investigating it as a potential "9/11 style terrorist attack."

A source told the Telegraph that the co-pilot killed the pilot in order to crash the plane into an Israeli city and kill all the passengers, who were mostly Israelis. That differs from the passenger accounts, in which the captain was wounded and received help. None of this has been independently verified.

Unofficial reports describe the suspect as Omani. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and flydubai have not confirmed that. Il Foglio reported that the route had recently been strengthened by diplomatic ties, including secret meetings between Netanyahu and Arab officials in Abu Dhabi earlier in the week.