EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, hijacked on November 23, 1985 by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. (The same aircraft had been diverted by Grumman F-14 Tomcat Fighter jets of the U.S. Navy a month earlier, after the Achille Lauro hijacking on October 7.)

On November 23, 1985, Flight 648 took off at 8pm on its Athens-to-Cairo route. Ten minutes after takeoff, three Palestinian members of Abu Nidal hijacked the aircraft. The terrorists, calling themselves the Egypt Revolution, were heavily armed with guns and grenades.^{[clarification needed]} The terrorist leader, Omar Rezaq, then proceeded to check all passports. It was at this point that an Egyptian Security Service agent aboard opened fire, killing one terrorist instantly before being wounded along with two flight attendants. In the exchange of fire the fuselage was punctured, causing a rapid depressurization. The aircraft was forced to descend to 14,000 feet (4,300 m) to allow the crew and passengers to breathe.