Moroccan asylum seeker says he killed British 70-year-old 'for the people of Gaza'

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An asylum seeker from Morocco who went on a vicious rampage following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war was convicted Thursday of murder for stabbing a 70-year-old man in the streets of an English seaside town.

Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed Terence Carney six times on Oct. 15 in the center of Hartlepool minutes after he hacked at a sleeping housemate while shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic.

The attack came eight days after Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7 and Alid told police he had done it "for the people of Gaza." He swore he would have killed more if he had a machine gun and other weapons, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said in Teesside Crown Court.

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Alid was also convicted of attempted murder for the attack on Javed Nouri, who shared the house in northeast England with him and other asylum seekers. Alid was upset Nouri had converted to Christianity.

Housemates told police that Alid began carrying a knife after watching TV coverage of the Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent bombing of Gaza.

Alid laughed when he saw footage of killings by Hamas, alarming his housemate, Nouri told police.

The Union Jack is photographed against a partly-cloudy sky. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

"Every time they would kill somebody, he would praise God," Nouri said. "I was very upset from that night and I have seen something terrible and frightening in his eyes."

Nouri had complained to housing officials, the Home Office and police and Alid was warned he could lose his housing.

Alid told police he justified killing an innocent man because Britain helped create the "Zionist entity" of Israel and Israel had "killed innocent children."

"They killed children and I killed an old man," he said.

During his interview with two women detectives, Alid became agitated and attacked them. A panic button in the interview room, however, didn't work properly and other officers only intervened after Alid's defense lawyer phoned an emergency number for help.

He was convicted of additional counts for assaulting the officers.

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Alid had denied the charges against him. Although he acknowledged the stabbings, he said he had no intent to kill or cause serious harm.

Sentencing is scheduled May 17.