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TEL AVIV—A FlyDubai plane headed for Israel made a harrowing emergency landing after one pilot stabbed the other in the cockpit—an attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an attempt to crash the aircraft.

Netanyahu described a dramatic series of events that had been relayed to him by one of the passengers on the plane, saying the flight had gone into a spin and began to dive during the attack. Then a passenger and a member of the crew broke into the cockpit and subdued the attacker. Others on board then entered the cockpit and were able to stabilize the plane, before landing in Saudi Arabia.

Passengers stood over the two bloodied pilots in the aircraft’s kitchen area after the attacker was subdued, according to video footage verified by Storyful, owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.

Saudi officials said both pilots were taken off the plane with stab wounds after it landed. Emirati authorities, the ultimate owners of FlyDubai who would be involved in any investigation, haven’t so far identified a motive for the attack. One of the pilots was under arrest, Netanyahu said.

The Israeli prime minister credited the resourcefulness and courage of those on the plane. “They saved many lives. They prevented a huge disaster,” he said.

Just over two hours into the early-morning flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft plunged more than 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds, according to flight trackers.

At 1:31 a.m. ET, the pilots issued a Squawk 7700, indicating a general emergency. Seven minutes later, they switched the alert to a code for unlawful interference, according to Flightradar24—used to describe attempts to jeopardize the safety of the airplane, like hijacking or hostage taking.

Airline staff traveling on the plane, who were on duty at the time, took over the controls after an altercation broke out in the cockpit, FlyDubai said, before landing safely in Tabuk, in western Saudi Arabia. “All passengers are safe and accounted for,” FlyDubai said.

“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” the airline added.

A statement from the Tabuk airport said “the captain and the co-pilot suffered injuries and were transported to the hospital for necessary medical care.” It didn’t elaborate on the cause of the injuries.

The aircraft’s rudder sustained damage from the sudden drop in altitude, said an official familiar with the initial investigation. A plane’s rudder controls its side-to-side movement and can be damaged when an aircraft makes extreme maneuvers in flight.

The incident comes as the Middle East remains on edge amid the simmering Iran war and high tensions over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip. The United Arab Emirates, which diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020, has provided a key air route for Israel via FlyDubai to the wider world.

Local authorities in Saudi Arabia were inspecting the aircraft and questioning the crew and the passengers to determine what happened, two officials familiar with the matter said. Israel has requested permission from Saudi authorities to take part in the investigation, they said.

The Emirati aviation authority said it would investigate a “security incident” on the plane.

In both Israel and the U.A.E., officials said security had been increased as a precaution after the incident.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hard-liner within Netanyahu’s government, said “a terrorist…planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on it.” Ben-Gvir didn’t elaborate.

“We received another reminder today about the naive conception that our enemies value life and that we should have mercy,” he said.

Palestinian militants launched a series of hijackings and airport-terminal assaults worldwide from the 1960s into the 1990s, often targeting Israelis. In recent days, a U.S. pressure campaign has seen flights to and from Iran halted over sanctions, drawing anger in Tehran. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has warned of security risks ahead of Israel’s coming elections in October that could end his yearslong hold on the prime minister’s office.

Flightradar24 said preliminary data showed the aircraft had “extreme fluctuations” in its reported altitude in flight, dropping drastically and rising again quickly at speeds far beyond those seen during normal trips.

FlyDubai has been one of the few international carriers to continue to fly to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on the country and subsequent war in Gaza. That boosted the airline’s bottom line as multiple Tel Aviv flights leave Dubai every day from Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3, often under the additional watch of undercover security personnel there. Israeli carriers also make the trip, including El Al.

Israel and Saudi Arabia have no formal diplomatic relations. However, since flights between the U.A.E. and Israel began after they diplomatically recognized each other in 2020, there have been incidents where Israel-bound planes have made emergency landings in the kingdom.