The threat of a terrorist attack in the UK has risen sharply due to the war in Gaza, according to a warning from senior security officials to MPs.
There is a “real risk” of a coordinated attack as well as a lone wolf attack, one insider claimed.
Parliamentarians have been told that the war in the Middle East has been a “recruitment advert” for global terror organisations.
According to MailOnline, an MP in the know regarding the recent briefings said: “The level of extremist chatter is off the scale. This is something they’ve seen growing and growing.
Referring to intelligence from the last fortnight, they added: “It’s like when the Twin Towers came down in 2001, there was a big spike of hate.”
The news comes following a warning from former immigration minister Robert Jenrick that intelligence services and police forces are too “stretched” to handle the “cancer of Islamist extremism”.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Jenrick said: “Despite the rise in far-Right activity, the threat still overwhelmingly comes from Islamists.”
Security personnel have held a number of meetings with MPs since December about increasing “chatter” about possible plots intercepted in phone conversations as well as online.
One well-placed source said: “There is a high chance of both a 7/7-style attack or a lone fired-up attacker like Lee Rigby’s killers.”
Mr Rigby was murdered in south London by Islamic fundamentalists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in 2013. The 7/7 bombings took place on July 7 2005 on London’s transport network and killed 39.
According to another source, besides the risk of an imminent attack, “there are also more medium-term fears that this is a generational radicalisation”.
It has also been warned that young British Muslims are more susceptible to be drawn into extremism in the wake of the October 7 attacks and Israel’s uncompromising response.
A top Tory told the Mail on Sunday that “terrorist groups will be finding it easier to fundraise, recruit and be excused for their actions” because of the conflict in the Middle East.
At present, the terror threat level is “substantial” – the third highest state of alert out of five. This means an attack is likely.
However, next week Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Alicia Kearns, will be asking Ministers why the level has not been increased.
She said: “Following the heinous crimes against humanity committed by Hamas, and the manner in which Israel has prosecuted its war against them, there can be no doubt that the risk of terrorism globally has escalated gravely.
“I am surprised the national threat level has not been raised.”
MI5 chief Ken McCallum, has previously warned that the October 7 terror attacks could spark terrorist incidents in Britain.
He said: “Terrorists can draw inspiration not just from things they see happening inside the UK but things they see happening in the Middle East or on the continent or elsewhere.”
