diff --git a/.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/gke.sh b/.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/gke.sh
index 8bde50ca60..5b51694217 100644
--- a/.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/gke.sh
+++ b/.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/gke.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ sleep 10s
 [[ $(pgrep -f "cilium.*hubble.*port-forward|kubectl.*port-forward.*hubble-relay" | wc -l) == 2 ]]
 
 # Run connectivity test
-cilium connectivity test --debug --all-flows --collect-sysdump-on-failure --external-target google.com.
+cilium connectivity test --test-concurrency=5 --debug --all-flows --collect-sysdump-on-failure --external-target google.com.
 
 # Run performance test
 cilium connectivity perf --duration 1s
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gke.yaml b/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
index 4982f52a96..a8c2ea6cce 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ on:
   #   will disappear from the PR checks: please provide a direct link to the
   #   successful workflow run (can be found from Actions tab) in a comment.
   #
-  # pull_request: {}
+  pull_request: {}
   ###
-  pull_request_target: {}
+  # pull_request_target: {}
   # Run every 6 hours
   schedule:
     - cron:  '0 2/6 * * *'
diff --git a/cli/connectivity.go b/cli/connectivity.go
index ba0ff55139..808f2791f4 100644
--- a/cli/connectivity.go
+++ b/cli/connectivity.go
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ func newCmdConnectivityTest(hooks api.Hooks) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&params.Timestamp, "timestamp", "t", false, "Show timestamp in messages")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&params.PauseOnFail, "pause-on-fail", "p", false, "Pause execution on test failure")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalTarget, "external-target", "one.one.one.one.", "Domain name to use as external target in connectivity tests")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalTargetCANamespace, "external-target-ca-namespace", defaults.ConnectivityCheckNamespace, "Namespace of the CA secret for the external target. Used by client-egress-l7-tls test cases.")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalTargetCANamespace, "external-target-ca-namespace", "", "Namespace of the CA secret for the external target. Used by client-egress-l7-tls test cases.")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalTargetCAName, "external-target-ca-name", "cabundle", "Name of the CA secret for the external target. Used by client-egress-l7-tls test cases.")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalCIDR, "external-cidr", "1.0.0.0/8", "CIDR to use as external target in connectivity tests")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&params.ExternalIP, "external-ip", "1.1.1.1", "IP to use as external target in connectivity tests")
@@ -228,6 +228,9 @@ func newConnectivityTests(params check.Parameters, logger *check.ConcurrentLogge
 		params.TestConcurrency = 1
 	}
 	if params.TestConcurrency < 2 {
+		if params.ExternalTargetCANamespace == "" {
+			params.ExternalTargetCANamespace = defaults.ConnectivityCheckNamespace
+		}
 		cc, err := check.NewConnectivityTest(k8sClient, params, defaults.CLIVersion, logger)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -238,9 +241,10 @@ func newConnectivityTests(params check.Parameters, logger *check.ConcurrentLogge
 	connTests := make([]*check.ConnectivityTest, 0, params.TestConcurrency)
 	for i := 0; i < params.TestConcurrency; i++ {
 		params := params
-		ns := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d", params.TestNamespace, i+1)
-		params.TestNamespace = ns
-		params.ExternalTargetCANamespace = ns
+		params.TestNamespace = fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d", params.TestNamespace, i+1)
+		if params.ExternalTargetCANamespace == "" {
+			params.ExternalTargetCANamespace = params.TestNamespace
+		}
 		params.ExternalDeploymentPort += i
 		params.EchoServerHostPort += i
 		params.JunitFile = junit.NamespacedFileName(params.TestNamespace, params.JunitFile)
diff --git a/cli/connectivity_test.go b/cli/connectivity_test.go
index 532dfed967..2788abbe7c 100644
--- a/cli/connectivity_test.go
+++ b/cli/connectivity_test.go
@@ -14,18 +14,30 @@ import (
 
 func TestNewConnectivityTests(t *testing.T) {
 	testCases := []struct {
-		params                 check.Parameters
-		expectedCount          int
-		expectedTestNamespaces []string
+		params                            check.Parameters
+		expectedCount                     int
+		expectedTestNamespaces            []string
+		expectedExternalTargetCANamespace []string
 	}{
+		{
+			params: check.Parameters{
+				FlowValidation:            check.FlowValidationModeDisabled,
+				TestNamespace:             "cilium-test",
+				ExternalTargetCANamespace: "",
+			},
+			expectedCount:                     1,
+			expectedTestNamespaces:            []string{"cilium-test"},
+			expectedExternalTargetCANamespace: []string{"cilium-test"},
+		},
 		{
 			params: check.Parameters{
 				FlowValidation:            check.FlowValidationModeDisabled,
 				TestNamespace:             "cilium-test",
 				ExternalTargetCANamespace: "cilium-test",
 			},
-			expectedCount:          1,
-			expectedTestNamespaces: []string{"cilium-test"},
+			expectedCount:                     1,
+			expectedTestNamespaces:            []string{"cilium-test"},
+			expectedExternalTargetCANamespace: []string{"cilium-test"},
 		},
 		{
 			params: check.Parameters{
@@ -34,8 +46,20 @@ func TestNewConnectivityTests(t *testing.T) {
 				ExternalTargetCANamespace: "cilium-test",
 				TestConcurrency:           -1,
 			},
-			expectedCount:          1,
-			expectedTestNamespaces: []string{"cilium-test"},
+			expectedCount:                     1,
+			expectedTestNamespaces:            []string{"cilium-test"},
+			expectedExternalTargetCANamespace: []string{"cilium-test"},
+		},
+		{
+			params: check.Parameters{
+				FlowValidation:            check.FlowValidationModeDisabled,
+				TestNamespace:             "cilium-test",
+				ExternalTargetCANamespace: "",
+				TestConcurrency:           3,
+			},
+			expectedCount:                     3,
+			expectedTestNamespaces:            []string{"cilium-test-1", "cilium-test-2", "cilium-test-3"},
+			expectedExternalTargetCANamespace: []string{"cilium-test-1", "cilium-test-2", "cilium-test-3"},
 		},
 		{
 			params: check.Parameters{
@@ -44,8 +68,9 @@ func TestNewConnectivityTests(t *testing.T) {
 				ExternalTargetCANamespace: "cilium-test",
 				TestConcurrency:           3,
 			},
-			expectedCount:          3,
-			expectedTestNamespaces: []string{"cilium-test-1", "cilium-test-2", "cilium-test-3"},
+			expectedCount:                     3,
+			expectedTestNamespaces:            []string{"cilium-test-1", "cilium-test-2", "cilium-test-3"},
+			expectedExternalTargetCANamespace: []string{"cilium-test"},
 		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range testCases {
@@ -56,6 +81,8 @@ func TestNewConnectivityTests(t *testing.T) {
 		require.Equal(t, tt.expectedCount, len(actual))
 		for i, n := range tt.expectedTestNamespaces {
 			require.Equal(t, n, actual[i].Params().TestNamespace)
+		}
+		for i, n := range tt.expectedExternalTargetCANamespace {
 			require.Equal(t, n, actual[i].Params().ExternalTargetCANamespace)
 		}
 	}