Terror threats and violence on the rise amid Gaza war, US intelligence chiefs tell Congress

Terrorism threats towards the US have surged since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, the head of the FBI told Congress this week, as another intelligence chief warned of rising anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic violence around the world.

“You’ve seen a veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organisations calling for terrorist attacks against us in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” FBI director Christopher Wray told the US House of Representatives intelligence committee on Tuesday.

The FBI is also concerned by the risk of lone actors being inspired by calls for violence from the Middle East, he said.

“This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance, given the risk,” he said.

At the same meeting, CIA director William Burns said there was “still the possibility” of a truce deal in Gaza that would enable hostages to be released and more aid to enter the enclave.

“It’s in everybody’s interest to try to get to the kind of ceasefire hostage deal that we were discussing before, because I think that is the best way, in many respects, to calm the situation in the West Bank and also elsewhere in the region,” Mr Burns said.

The West Bank “remains a pretty combustible place right now”, he added.

“I think the risks of a spillover of increased violence in the West Bank, in places like Jordan and elsewhere in the region are also considerable,” he said, adding that Iranian proxies in the region are “feeding off” the crisis. “It’s in everybody’s interest to try to get to the kind of ceasefire-hostage deal that we were discussing before, because I think that is the best way, in many respects, to calm the situation in the West Bank and also elsewhere in the region,” Mr Burns said.

Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, said that the conflict would probably have a “generational impact on terrorism”.

The war “is inspiring individuals to conduct acts of anti-Semitism and Islamophobic terror worldwide”, she added. The US intelligence community released a report on Monday that said armed insurgency against Israel by Hamas could continue for “years to come”, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to destroy the militant group.

The Israeli military “will struggle to neutralise Hamas’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength and surprise Israeli forces”, the report read.

It also said Mr Netanyahu’s position and that of his government “may be in jeopardy”.

“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.”

CIA director William Burns told Congress there was ‘still the possibility’ of a truce deal in the Gaza Strip