A pilot on an Israel-bound flight stabbed another pilot and "apparently tried to crash the plane", says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
The plane was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it plummeted 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes, before being diverted to Saudi Arabia
See footage from the plane as it descended here
One passenger reports "terrible screams throughout the plane" before "three to five guys burst into the cockpit" and subdued an attacker
Another passenger says "we took control of the flight" from "an assailant with a knife" - meanwhile, two other pilots, sitting at the back, reportedly came forward to land the plane
Netanyahu says the pilot who launched the attack has been arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities - an Israeli ambassador says the other pilot is from the UAE
Netanyahu also "salutes the heroes" who helped "stabilise the aircraft", saying they "saved many lives and prevented a major disaster"
The passengers have finally landed in Israel, via Saudi Arabia - watch our coverage live at the top of the page
Image source, Israeli Prime Minister's OfficeIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met passengers at Ben Gurion airport after they got off their repatriation flight.
A video on his official social media account shows him hugging and greeting passengers. One of the men has a bloody stained t-shirt.
The caption says he met "Yaniv, who broke into the cockpit on the flight from Dubai to Israel".
"The most terrifying moment in this flight was when the pilot loses control" passenger Haim Lazarovich tells journalists as he makes his way through Ben Gurion airport.
He tells Reuters that he was with his wife and young son on the flight, and feared for their lives.
"Thank God I'm alive," he adds.
Image source, Getty ImagesAs passengers disembark the recovery flight from Saudi Arabia, they are being met with crowds of onlookers playing music, singing, dancing and waving Israeli flags.
The initial flight, from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tubak, in Saudi Arabia, for an emergency landing following the stabbing of a pilot onboard.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, APTN
Image source, Reuters
Image source, APTN
Jon Donnison
Middle East correspondent in Ben Gurion Airport
We haven't heard from relatives yet as most journalists are being kept outside at the airport, away from the relatives of those on the flights.
There's a crowd of around 100 journalists waiting outside the small terminal at the airport. The plane would normally have landed at the much-larger main terminal but it's a bit quieter here.
As around the world, this has obviously grabbed a huge amount of attention and there is a real interest to talk to the passengers on board.
Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter
I have just spoken to a medic who greeted the passengers off the plane.
Arye Myers from the Magen David Adom Israeli ambulance service told me he assessed passengers on the tarmac after they came down the steps from the plane.
“We met the passengers off the plane and did an initial medical assessment. They have been taken to a special terminal and are now leaving."
He says a few people have minor injuries.
"So far, just one required hospital treatment so we sent him to hospital. He was injured in the tussle on the plane and had injuries to his wrist.
"All the passengers walked off the plane under their own steam. A couple of them had some bandaging.
"A number of people were very emotional and crying as they came off the plane. You could sense the relief that they finally landed. Some of them told me it was great to be home and happy the ordeal was over."
We're now seeing images of passengers walking through the airport in Tel Aviv, after disembarking the plane that left Saudi Arabia earlier.
You can watch our coverage live at the top of the page - and we'll bring you comments from the passengers as soon as we have them.
The plane carrying the passengers of the earlier diverted Dubai to Tel Aviv flight has been pictured on the tarmac of Israel's Ben Gurion airport.
Israeli officials and security personnel can also been seen waiting at the arrivals terminal for the passengers to disembark.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReautersMichael Shuval
BBC Arabic, at Ben Gurion Airport
Here at Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 1, the atmosphere shifted noticeably this evening after confirmation that the aircraft carrying all passengers had departed Saudi Arabia for Israel.
As news of the flight's departure spread, more family members began arriving at the greeting and information centre.
Preparations for the arrival remain relatively limited. A few ambulances are positioned nearby as a precaution, while nearly two dozen television crews, photographers and reporters from Israeli and international media outlets crowd the area.
Elsewhere, the airport remains busy. Israel is in the middle of the Sukkot holiday, one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, and passenger traffic continues to flow through the terminals despite the intense interest surrounding this incident.
Some Israelis boarding Flydubai flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai this afternoon told the BBC they were initially concerned after hearing reports of the security scare onboard. But after weighing the situation, they decided not to cancel their holiday plans and continued with their trips as scheduled.
For the families gathering here tonight, the mood is no longer dominated by uncertainty. After nearly nine hours of waiting for news, anxiety is gradually giving way to relief as they prepare to welcome their loved ones home.
Image source, ReutersPassengers from the Flydubai flight have landed in Tel Aviv, hours after their scheduled arrival.
The repatriation flight left Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, at 17:40 local time (14:40 GMT, 15:40 BST).
We'll bring you the latest on this story as soon as we have more.
Image source, ReutersIsraeli President Isaac Herzog has thanked the "heroes" who "acted with immense courage" on the flight to Tel Aviv that was diverted to Saudi Arabia.
"Hours of worry ended in a great miracle and exceptional heroism," he writes on X, as a recovery flight makes its way to Israel.
"I strengthen the spirits of the plane's passengers making their way back home, and thank from the depths of my heart the heroes who acted with immense courage in these critical moments," he adds.
"We will continue to act together with our Emirati partners to learn from the event and fight terrorism."
Medics are waiting outside Israel's Ben Gurion airport where passengers whose plane was diverted earlier following a stabbing are due to arrive.
Once they land, they will all be given medical checks and any necessary additional care, emergency officials say.
Image source, EPAIntensive care mobile units and ambulances are ready and waiting, say officials
Passengers from the Flydubai plane involved in today's incident have now departed Saudi Arabia, airport operator Cluster2 says.
They left Tabuk airport at 17:40 local time (14:40 GMT, 15:40 BST), according to the Saudi operator.
As we reported earlier, Flydubai airline had sent two replacement planes to Tabuk "to relieve the passengers and crew".
The original flight had been travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv before being diverted to Saudi Arabia as this attack unfolded.
Michael Shuval
BBC Arabic
Israel Ohayon says his sister Miriam was sitting directly behind the cockpit and "saw everything"
Israel Ohayon’s sister, Miriam Ohayon, was on board the Flydubai flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia after one of the pilots was stabbed.
Speaking to BBC Arabic at Israel's Ben Gurion airport, the flight's planned destination, he says there is a feeling of "helplessness, complete uncertainty".
Ohayon says his sister reported "a lot of pressure and panic" with passengers feeling that they were "staring death in the face".
He says his sister was sitting "directly behind" the pilots and "saw everything" that happened - adding that "a few Israelis took initiative" and subdued the attacker.
"Mentally, she’s not in a good state. We lost our brother on October 7, 2023, so this brings us back a little to that time," Ohayon adds.
Charlotte Hadfield
Live reporter
Image source, EPA/ShutterstockA Flydubai plane at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel
An Israel-bound plane plummeted 17,000ft in two minutes after one pilot stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane, according to Israel's prime minister.
Benjamin Netanyahu says he has spoken to an Israeli passenger onboard the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv who described how the plane "went into a spin and began to descend".
The passenger told him that "somehow he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and, together, they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft's systems".
Another crew member "entered the cockpit and managed to stabilise the aircraft", Netanyahu says, as he praised the "heroes" who "saved many lives and prevented a major disaster".
In a new statement, Flydubai, says the plane was "successfully secured" by on-duty crew travelling on the flight who "diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport".
The motives behind the attack remain unknown and are subject to a formal investigation, the airline says.
The pilot believed to have carried out the stabbing has been arrested and is being questioned by authorities in Saudi Arabia, according to Netanyahu.
A series of extraordinary witness accounts have emerged, including from one passenger who described hearing "terrible screams throughout the plane" before "three to five guys burst into the cockpit" and subdued the attacker.
The incident comes at an even more febrile time than usual in Israel, with tightly contested elections just weeks away - it's bound to be used on all sides in the campaign,writes our global affairs correspondent Sebastian Usher.
Image source, ReutersIsrael's ambassador to the United Nations says a "heroic" pilot on the diverted Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv "fought like a lion" to protect passengers.
"The Israeli passengers on today's flight from Dubai showed extraordinary determination and resourcefulness, helping prevent a major disaster," Danny Danon writes on X.
"Thank you to the heroic Emirati pilot, who fought like a lion and protected the lives of the passengers," he adds.
"I wish him a speedy recovery and a safe journey home for all the passengers."
Noa Shpigel, a journalist at the Haaretz newspaper, has been telling the BBC that her 74-year-old mother was travelling on the Flydubai plane. She was on her way back to Israel after a trip to Nepal, travelling from Kathmandu via Dubai.
Noa says when she heard the news she checked the flight number and realised her mother was on the plane.
She has spoken to her mother who described how "they started to understand that something was wrong as the plane started to jump in the air and it started to dive down".
"They understood very quickly that something was going on very wrong in the cockpit."
Noa’s mother told her that several young Israeli men who were sitting at the front of the plane went into the cockpit and took control, she said.
It was a "really tough experience".
By Joshua Cheetham and Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify has checked a video showing some passengers onboard a Flydubai aircraft move towards the front of the plane, while others can be heard shouting.
Passenger films moment plane starts to lose altitude
In the clip, people ask what is going on, as well as reacting to others panicking and saying they don't know.
While we have not managed to match the passengers in the footage to those seen in other imagery, the layout and design of the seats are consistent with a Flydubai Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and the video has recently been shared online.
Image source, EPAA Flydubai plane waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on 30 September
Following the updates from the Israeli government, we've also just received a statement from Flydubai, the operator of the plane where the incident took place.
A spokesman for the airline says "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" of flight FZ 1073, which was travelling from Dubai International to Ben Gurion International Airport on 30 September.
The aircraft was "successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight", who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport, it says.
All passengers and crew are safe and accounted for and the airline has deployed two replacement aircraft to Tabuk "to relieve the passengers and crew".
The operator adds that this incident has no impact on other scheduled flights across the Flydubai network.
"At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation."
The airline urged people to refrain from "premature speculation" and said its immediate priority was the safety, health, and wellbeing of all passengers and crew members.
The Israeli defence minster, Israel Katz, has said early indications show that one of the pilots had intended to crash the plane, killing everyone on board.
He said the incident was an "attempted jihadist terror attack", and praised Israeli passengers for overpowering the pilot.
Here is more from the Israeli prime minister's statement:
During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and, apparently, tried to crash the plane with its passengers on board.
I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me that the plane went into a spin and began to descend. He told me that, somehow, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and, together, they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft's systems.
Another air crew who was on the plane entered the cockpit and managed to stabilise the aircraft.
I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.
The plane landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. All the passengers are now out of danger.
The pilot who carried out the stabbing was arrested and is currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities.
