New details from the interrogation of Hamam al-Hammami, the pilot suspected of attempting to crash a Flydubai aircraft in Israel, have been provided to Israeli security officials in recent days.
According to details reported Monday evening by Channel 12 News, al-Hamami linked his alleged attempt to bring down the aircraft to the war in the Gaza Strip.
“I did it as revenge for Gaza. I wanted to die as a shahid," al-Hammami told investigators.
The Israeli security establishment is continuing to investigate whether he acted alone and out of a personal motive, or whether another party was behind the alleged attack. The military censor permitted publication Monday evening that the Shin Bet is also participating in the investigation.
Meanwhile, authorities in the United Arab Emirates questioned the flight attendants who were aboard the Flydubai flight. According to information provided to Israel, the investigation ruled out the possibility that the crew members were involved in the plan or attempted to assist the co-pilot. The flight attendants told investigators that they were confused during the incident but denied any involvement in the attempt to bring down the aircraft.
Israel has received the investigation reports concerning the flight crew, but UAE authorities are not permitting Israeli teams to participate directly in questioning the crew members.
One of the main focuses of the investigation is now al-Hammami’s cellphone. Investigators in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have access to the contents of the device and the information stored on it and are reviewing the material in an effort to trace his activities and contacts.
The examination of the device is intended to provide investigators with additional details about al-Hammami, his intentions and the events preceding the alleged attempt to bring down the aircraft, as well as to help answer the central question that remains unresolved - whether he acted on his own initiative or was in contact with another person or organization.
The possibility that al-Hammami was recruited or directed by an outside party is also being investigated in light of trips he made in recent years. At a Security Cabinet meeting held on Sunday, a Mossad representative presented ministers with some of the details that have emerged from the investigation.
According to two sources who attended the meeting, the Mossad representative told the ministers: “We discovered that in recent years, the terrorist visited countries hostile to Israel, some of them enemy states. These were brief visits. We are investigating whether, during those visits, someone or some organization recruited or directed him."