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El Al Flight 253

26 Dec 1968 · Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece

Boeing 707 · Terrorist attack

From Tel Aviv, Israel to New York City, United States

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Incident
Event fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
50
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
2
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Boeing 707

Aircraft type
Boeing 707
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
Unknown
Operator
El Al
Onboard fatalities
1
Route
From Tel Aviv, IsraelTo New York City, United States

Approximate · Estimated position: Ellinikon International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.

From the Wikipedia article

The El Al Flight 253 attack was a terrorist attack against a Boeing 707 passenger plane by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The attack took place while the plane was on a layover in Athens en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to New York City, United States in 1968.

Background

Days before the attack, European and American authorities warned European airlines about bomb threats during the pre-Christmas holiday rush.

The incident came five months after a group of self-styled Palestinian Arab commandos hijacked El Al Flight 426 on July 23, shortly after it took-off from Rome for Tel Aviv and forced it to fly to Algiers. Algeria eventually released all passengers, crew and the plane.

Text from the Wikipedia article “El Al Flight 253” (revision 1349004873, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: El Al Flight 253
Article
El Al Flight 253
Revision
1349004873 · 2026-04-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q2895966
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "El Al Flight 253" (page 25694598, revision 1349004873)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
flight number in the article title
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.