The threat of terrorism in the UK has been at an “unprecedented” level since the war began between Israel and Hamas in October last year, a senior British counter-terrorism official said on Friday.
According to Sky News, Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jewkes said there had been a 25% increase in terrorism information received by police in the country since the war began, adding: “There has never been a more volatile, dangerous and uncertain time. “It's hard to remember a world like this,” he added.
According to BBC News, Jewkes added that the Israel-Hamas war has created a new “moment of radicalization” for Islamic extremists, who have been fueled by an “extraordinary amount” of online content and misinformation. .
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The war in Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas launched an unprovoked attack against Israel. (Ahmad Hasabalah/Getty Images)
Mr Jewkes said that all of this online content was part of a dangerous climate, creating moments of radicalization that could lead people to terrorism.
There have been 33 terror-related arrests in the UK so far in connection with the war in Gaza, the BBC reported, adding that police had not confirmed whether any terrorist plots had been thwarted.
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“This is not just rhetoric,” he continued. “In my seat, we tend to look at dashboards of metrics, and there are certain metrics that we look at. And right now, there's a needle on that dashboard that's moving in the wrong direction.”
Mr Jewkes added that the UK faced the worst threat from “hostile state actors” since the Cold War.
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“We don't want to hold back. We're talking about parts of the state apparatus of Iran, China and Russia,” he told reporters. The Metropolitan Police announced on Friday that it has added another unit focused on countering threats from these three countries.
Reuters contributed to this report.
