The Israeli passengers on the Flydubai flight diverted to Saudi Arabia are home: Approximately an hour after taking off from Tabuk, the airline's replacement aircraft has landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. Upon entering Israeli airspace, the plane was accompanied by Israeli fighter jets until reaching the airport.
Passengers who initially refused to board the new Flydubai flight after the harrowing incident earlier in the day were convinced to board after the Mossad approved the flight's crew.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to welcome the passengers upon their arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The passengers had been in Saudi Arabia since Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to land in the country following the unusual incident in the cockpit. Diplomatic officials said earlier that Israeli personnel are on the ground and that the Israelis were questioned there, but none of them are expected to remain in Saudi Arabia for investigative purposes.
The incident began when the aircraft transmitted a distress code used to signal unlawful interference with a flight and which can indicate a hijacking. Following the signal, Israeli Air Force fighter jets were scrambled, contact with the aircraft was lost, and emergency consultations were held among senior Israeli security officials.
It later emerged that an incident, apparently an act of terrorism, had taken place in the cockpit. According to details provided in Israel, the co-pilot, an Omani national, stabbed the captain. Diplomatic officials said indications that the assailant was a terrorist rather than that the incident was motivated by mental-health issues are growing, and that additional information from Saudi Arabia is awaited.
Crew members and passengers who heard what was happening broke into the cockpit and overpowered the attacker. A senior Israeli official said following the incident that "an extremely serious disaster was averted."
Tzvika Mans, CEO of Bank Leumi's Barak Leumi underwriting company, who was among the passengers who overpowered the attacker, said that he and two other passengers entered the cockpit after hearing screams.
"I'm covered in blood. It was insane," he said.
Other passengers documented the moments following the attacker's capture. In one video, a passenger with blood on his face can be seen saying: "We have just taken control of the terrorists. We're preparing to land. Anyone who can hear me, we need help."
Yitzhak Lieber, who was also aboard the flight, recounted: "We took control here on the flight of the attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots. We just jumped in, and a few of us got them out of the cockpit. Everything is fine now."
Footage from inside the cockpit showed Israelis securing the entrance to the cockpit and providing medical treatment to the injured pilots.
During the incident, the aircraft plunged approximately 14,000 feet - about 4,200 meters - within one minute, according to Flightradar data. Contact was eventually established with the Saudis, and the aircraft landed in the Kingdom.