Terrorist who killed British woman in bus bombing ‘living freely in Turkey’

Mary Jane Gardner (Wycliffe Bible Translators)[Missing Credit]

Arafah was serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison but was released this year, 14 years into his sentence, as part of one of the ceasefire agreements with Hamas, which saw Israeli hostages freed in return for Palestinian prisoners.

Security experts have now warned about the potential risks of travel to Turkey after it was revealed that Arafah and 15 other former life sentence prisoners are at large in the country.

Professor Anthony Glees told the Mail: “This isn’t just a political issue, it’s a serious security concern”, not least because “groups like Hamas have a track record of targeting Westerners”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, Turkey is the fourth most popular foreign holiday destination for British tourists, who spent more than a combined 27 million nights there in 2024.

The ease of movement through Europe or the Middle East for the terrorists once they are in Turkey is also a source of concern among experts and authorities.

Social media posts have shown Arafah spending time with his family in a hotel and conducting interviews with the media. He told Al Jazeera in July that the city of Jerusalem, the location of his attack in 2011, would be destroyed “God willing”.