A fellow pilot described the flydubai co-pilot as someone with extreme religious behaviour: “He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women,” he told Channel 16’s foreign correspondent Yosef Yisrael.

The co-pilot joined the airline eight months ago and is an Omani national. Israel has called the incident a terror attack, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and flydubai have so far refrained from calling it one. The airline cancelled all its flights to Israel until its own investigation is concluded.