The Guardian
· collected 2026-10-05 · by Jason Burke in London and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Investigators believe that Hamam al-Hammami, 29, a co-pilot on flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, originally planned his attack in July but postponed it until last week’s actual incident. The plane carried over 180 passengers and crew, most of them Israeli, and was en route when Hammami attacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe about two hours into the flight. Despite sustaining injuries, the captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers to subdue Hammami. A reserve pilot then took control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia where Hammami was detained. Authorities from at least six countries are investigating Hammami's background and motives, with concerns over his possible radicalization raised by previous employers.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Investigators believe the co-pilot who tried to take control of a plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week originally planned his attack for July but postponed the hijacking, possibly because a friend was among the crew, regional and Israeli officials have said.
uncertain
officials → believe → crew
The evidence of prior planning suggests that Hamam al-Hammami, 29, may have specifically sought employment with an airline that flew to Israel in order to carry out the attack on last Wednesday’s flydubai flight FZ1073, experts believe.
uncertain
experts → suggest → flight
Police and security agencies in at least six countries are scrambling to piece together the background of Hammami, an Omani national, and his intentions, as well as to establish if he acted entirely alone.
asserted
he → scramble → Hammami
Hammami allegedly used an emergency crash axe kept in the cockpit to launch a surprise attack on the pilot approximately two hours and 20 minutes after takeoff.
uncertain
Hammami → use → takeoff
The plane was carrying more than 180 passengers – almost all Israeli – and crew on a routine flight.
asserted
plane → carry → flight
Israeli media have quoted from Hammami’s statements to interrogators since being transferred to United Arab Emirates custody on Thursday to report that he planned to crash into Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, or possibly another high-profile target nearby.
uncertain
he → quote → Aviv
The flight’s captain, Smit Machchhar, said on Saturday that shortly after Hammami had left his seat to pray, he felt a “big blow” to the back of his head.
asserted
he → say → head
In a phone call with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday, Machchhar said: “The blows kept coming …
asserted
blows → say → Saturday
That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”
asserted
who → ’ → me
Despite his injuries Machchhar was able to unlock the cockpit’s security door to allow passengers to overpower Hammami.
asserted
passengers → unlock → Hammami
A reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the flight took control of the aircraft and landed it at a regional airport in north-western Saudi Arabia, where the co-pilot was detained by Saudi authorities.
asserted
pilot → travel → authorities
The investigation into Hammami has now spread to more than eight countries.
asserted
investigation → spread → countries
Authorities in New Zealand and Australia are examining reports that the co-pilot studied in both nations about 10 years ago.
asserted
pilot → examine → nations
Hammami, who has an Omani father and a Syrian mother, is thought to have been employed by Oman Air from 2018 to June 2025, but left the airline after being moved to a desk job out of concerns that he had developed extremist views.
asserted
he → have → views
He was then hired by Royal Air Maroc, the Moroccan national flag carrier, but did not obtain permission to fly and gave up his job there.
asserted
He → hire → job
Shortly afterward, Hammami was hired at the state-owned flydubai, which has needed pilots as it expands rapidly.
asserted
it → hire → pilots
The airline conducted checks for a criminal record but not for evidence of radicalisation, officials have said.
asserted
officials → conduct → radicalisation
A key question for investigators is when Hammami began to formulate his plan to attack a plane full of Israelis or target Israel.
asserted
Hammami → begin → Israel
Netanyahu has claimed Hammami had undergone “radical Islamist indoctrination” and was clearly suicidal, without giving details.
asserted
Hammami → claim → details
Nine hours after the attack, a post was made to an online social media account in Hammami’s name praising Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former al-Qaida leader, as well as a militant responsible for a lethal suicide attack on US troops in Afghanistan in 2009.
asserted
post → make → 2009
A second post contained religious imagery.
asserted
post → contain → imagery
An analysis of Hammami’s X account by a company that uses AI to measure the toxicity of individuals’ social media accounts found dozens of misogynistic posts, including public threats against women.
asserted
that → use → women
The analysis by Accountability! – which recovered Hammami’s deleted account by scraping internet archives, and reviewed almost 3,000 posts and responses – found repeated use of slurs against women, and a “consistent pattern” of use of terms meaning “whores”, and “filthy feminist”.
asserted
which → recover → whores
The researchers also found homophobic slurs directed at men.
asserted
researchers → find → men
“Beyond offensive language, the analysis surfaced explicit conditional threats of physical violence … including repeated imagery of stomping on a woman’s head and making her ‘a lesson for others’,” the analysis found.
asserted
analysis → surface → others
“Online toxicity isn’t just corrosive, it’s a warning sign.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
This pilot was telling the world who he was in his posts.
asserted
he → tell → posts
Had anyone in charge been listening, nearly 200 people might never have been put in danger,” said Gur Megiddo, a co-founder and chief executive of Accountability!.
uncertain
Megiddo → listen → Accountability
Regional officials said Emirati authorities had shared information about the passengers and crew, including their nationalities, with Israel.
asserted
authorities → say → Israel
The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said the transportation ministry was responsible for vetting passenger lists from foreign flights but the transportation minister, Miri Regev, said on X that the security agencies handled flight security.
asserted
agencies → say → security
Israeli newspapers reported that a key database of foreign pilots had not been checked despite concerns raised by official reports.
asserted
database → report → reports
The attack occurred at a sensitive time for Israel, a week before the anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 which triggered the war in Gaza, and weeks before a fiercely contested general election in which security – and responsibility for failures to keep Israelis safe – has been a central issue.
asserted
security → occur → Israelis
Opposition politicians have seized on the apparent lapses to attack Netanyahu, who has boasted of his ability to keep Israelis safe.
asserted
who → seize → Israelis
“This is exactly what system collapse looks like,” Yair Golan, the head of the opposition Democrats party, wrote on X. “A transportation minister who completely abandons our skies, and a prime minister who abandons national security.”
asserted
who → look → security
The Aporia
