Ahmed Alid, 45, murdered Terence Carney, 70, in the streets of the northeastern English town of Hartlepool, eight days after the war began on October 7.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Alid he had "attacked and murdered... in a terrorist act", and said he would spend a minimum of 44 years behind bars.

She said he had "hoped to frighten the people of Britain and undermine the freedoms they enjoy" in actions "intended as revenge" for Israel's war on Gaza.

Minutes before killing Carney, Alid had also attempted to murder his housemate, Christian convert Javed Nouri, by breaking into his bedroom and hacking at him while he slept, before fleeing into the street, still armed with a knife.

That attack on Nouri had been "an attempt to punish him for converting to Christianity", the judge claimed, adding that he had shown "no genuine remorse or pity" for his victims.

Alid admitted to police that Carney was "innocent" but justified killing him by saying Britain had created the "Zionist entity" of Israel and should make them leave, adding: "They killed children and I killed an old man."

He had denied murder, attempted murder and assaulting two police officers.

He was unanimously found guilty of all four charges by a jury at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough last month.