Tripoli says it plans to file over the 1973 crash that killed 108 people. The ICJ has not received a full application or ruled on whether it can hear the dispute.
On 21 February 1973, a Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 was flying over Sinai when it was shot down. Flight LN114 was travelling from Tripoli via Benghazi to Cairo, and 108 people died.
Libya has notified the International Court of Justice that it intends to bring a case over the downing. The route linked Tripoli and Benghazi with Cairo, while the crash site was in Sinai. The incident involved a Libyan airline and Egyptian passengers.
The notice marks a possible step toward litigation. It is not a filed case. Regional reporting, including Egyptian coverage, says Libya plans to submit an application in due course. The court has not registered a case based on a full application or decided whether it has jurisdiction.
Regional accounts say 113 people were aboard the aircraft. Of them, 108 died and five survived. Asharq Al-Awsat's account says the aircraft strayed off course during a sandstorm over Sinai, then under Israeli occupation. Israeli fighters intercepted it and hit it with a missile. These are reported details, not findings by the ICJ.
Libya cites the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, along with other rules of international law. The UN treaty record gives 23 September 1971 as the date the convention opened for signature. Citing the treaty does not establish that anyone breached it. Libya would have to identify the obligations it says were violated and explain why the court can hear the dispute.
Libya's letter refers to Israeli cabinet meeting minutes that it says were declassified in 2023. It presents them as evidence for its position; that remains Libya's allegation, not a judicial finding. Masrawy has also recounted claims that Israel first denied responsibility, then acknowledged it. The report attributes details about the decision to use force to an aviation expert. The available material does not independently verify those details through an Israeli government document.
Libya says an eventual application will identify the dispute and explain the legal grounds for the ICJ's jurisdiction. It will set out the relevant facts. The filing will also identify the provisions Libya alleges were breached and specify the remedies it seeks.
The notice asks the court's Registry to place the letter on its records as formal notice of Libya's intention to initiate proceedings. The jurisdictional basis still has to be presented and assessed. The letter itself does not settle whether the court can hear the case.
The letter says references to Israel and its authorities are for factual identification and legal proceedings, and do not constitute recognition of Israel by Libya. Separately, a reported UAE meeting involving Saddam Haftar and Benjamin Netanyahu has not been independently confirmed.
The ICJ has not registered a case on the basis of a full application or determined whether it has jurisdiction.
