Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.

Air France Flight 8969 (Operation Rock Climber) was an Air France flight that was hijacked on 24 December 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA) at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers. The militants murdered three passengers and their intention was either to detonate the aircraft over the Eiffel Tower or the Tour Montparnasse in Paris. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), a tier one counterterrorism and hostage rescue unit of the French National Gendarmerie, stormed the plane and killed all four hijackers.

Houari Boumediene International Airport, also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It is located 9.1 NM east southeast of the city.

Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008 and an estimated 3,004,130 residents in 2025 in an area of 1,190 square kilometres (460 sq mi), Algiers is the largest city in Algeria, the third largest city on the Mediterranean, sixth in the Arab World, and 29th in Africa. Located in the north-central portion of the country, it extends along the Bay of Algiers surrounded by the Mitidja Plain and major mountain ranges. Its favorable location made it the center of Ottoman and French cultural, political, and architectural influences for the region, shaping it to be the diverse metropolis it is today.

December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; seven days remain until the end of the year.