We're still learning more about what happened on board a FlyDubai flight that was headed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, before one of the pilots viciously stabbed the other in what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has since characterized as an "attempted jihadist terrorist attack."

"The terrorist had one intention: to crash the aircraft with everyone on board," he also stated.

As we reported, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a statement earlier in which he praised the heroics of the passengers, a large number of whom were Israelis, and crew members:

I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me the plane entered a spin and began to dive. He told me that along the way, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members, and they restrained the stabbing pilot while he was still trying to sabotage the plane's systems. Another crew member who was on the plane entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the aircraft.

As the investigation into what happened gets underway, other passengers are speaking out and sharing their stories of what went on during the apparent attempted hijacking. These stories are unconfirmed, but they are riveting and very much match up with exactly what you would expect from a plane full of fed-up Israeli passengers: Massive resistance:

Yasmin Abukasis told Reuters that her daughter - who was on the flight - said a man holding a knife had forced one of the pilots onto the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.

Speaking from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, she said her daughter phoned her to say she heard screaming on the plane as a pilot called for help, adding that two other pilots took control of the plane as other passengers ran towards a man who had a knife.

"The plane start to lose control. So all the people, they scream, they think they are going," Abukasis told AP news agency.

Another passenger, Zvika Meness, described actions he says he and others on the plane took to subdue the suspected terrorist:

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Passenger Zvika Meness told Israeli public broadcaster Kan News that his young daughter was in the toilet, and his wife accompanying her, when they heard shouting coming from the cockpit.

An additional crew member who was also a pilot went into the cockpit, and that is when they saw the stabbing, Meness said. He and two other people restrained the attacker, he added.

"We jumped on him; three of us jumped on him forcefully, and we tied him up with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones. That is how we neutralised him - resourcefulness, and that's it."

The pilot who was brutally attacked is also being hailed by Netanyahu and others as a hero:

My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.

Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster.

He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.

I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery.

The Israel Foreign Ministry X account wrote:

This man is a hero.

Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.

Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door - allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save all the passengers.

Together, their extraordinary courage saved 174 lives.

Indian. Israeli. Emirati.

Different nationalities. One extraordinary act of courage.

The Israel War Room Shared this, which included video of passenger Yaniv Hayoun, who Netanyahu described as a "lion," recounting what he says he encountered and how he responded. He actually apologized to Netanyahu for having to meet him in the bloody T-shirt and shoes he still wore:

Israeli hero aboard nearly-hijacked FlyDubai flight FZ 1073: Yaniv Hayoun

Hayoun has no background in security. But when he realized there was an attempted hijacking, he knew he had to do something.

He ran to the cockpit and physically fought with the co-pilot, who had stabbed the pilot and was attempting to crash the plane. Hayoun put the co-pilot in a chokehold and dragged. him out of the cockpit. Others came over to help restrain him.

Hayoun then went back into the cockpit and pulled back on the yoke to pull the plane out of its nosedive. The plane had dropped 17,000+ feet in under two minutes.

An off-duty pilot then entered the cockpit and took over the controls, and Haroun went back out to help guard the co-pilot.

Undoubtedly, we'll be hearing more stories in the days and weeks to come as the authorities conduct their investigation.

The attacker, who has been identified only as an Omani national, is in custody. Machchhar's condition, as of this writing, is not known.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to RedState for updates.