Senior Tories pile pressure on Rishi Sunak to back immediate Gaza ceasefire

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after 10 senior Conservative MPs accused Israel of carrying out the “brutalisation of the civilian Palestinian population” – which they argue risks fuelling more extremism in the region.

The MPs, including ex-cabinet ministers, have written to Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to argue the case for an immediate ceasefire is now “unanswerable”.

It comes before the prime minister faces questioning from MPs on the Liaison Committee, in which the war between Hamas and Israel will likely feature prominently.

Politics latest: Tory MPs sign letter calling for immediate ceasefire

In the letter, signed by former ministers Kit Malthouse and George Eustice, MPs said Israel’s actions appeared neither “proportionate or targeted”, with “many thousands of civilians dead and injured, and close to two million forcibly displaced”.

“In particular, the number of women and children who have been killed is profoundly shocking,” they added.

But housing minister Lee Rowley told Sky News the “only way” for the conflict to stop immediately was if Hamas “lay down their weapons”.

“If Hamas are refusing to do that, Israel has a right to defend itself against an organisation that says it will come back time and time and time again and just kill people because they are Jewish,” he said.

The intervention from the MPs comes as Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration faces mounting international criticism over the scale of civilian casualties.

The conflict in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s attack on 7 October which saw 1,200 people killed and 240 taken hostage, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

Aid groups have warned of a spiralling humanitarian crisis as the bombardment continues.

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Pressure grows for ceasefire

Last weekend, the United Nations General Assembly held a vote in which 153 out of 193 members supported a ceasefire in Gaza.

The US voted against the move, while the UK abstained.

The Tory MPs who wrote to Lord Cameron said they were “dismayed” by the UK’s abstention, given allies including France, Canada, and Australia supported it.

On Sunday, Lord Cameron instead called for a “sustainable ceasefire”.

The foreign secretary said “too many civilians have been killed” and urged Israel to do more to “discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians”.

His language echoed that of US President Joe Biden, who described Israel’s bombing as “indiscriminate”.

PM warned of growing rebellion

Paul Bristow, the Tory MP for Peterborough, was one of those who signed the letter to Lord Cameron.

He was sacked from his government post in October for calling for a ceasefire.

Mr Bristow told Sky News’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that on top of the MPs who signed the letter, there were “many more behind the scenes” who wanted the UK to push for a ceasefire.

The letter followed an article from ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace, who warned at the weekend that Israel risked losing its “legal” and “moral” authority if it continued with its “killing rage” in Gaza, as he appealed to all sides to pursue a two-state solution.

Asked about Mr Wallace’s article during a trip to Scotland, Rishi Sunak said that while Israel “obviously has a right to defend itself against what was an appalling terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas… it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law”.

“It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost and nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to,” the prime minister added.