Shadow minister Imran Hussain has quit Labour’s frontbench in protest at Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Hussain’s decision will be a blow for the Labour leader, who has been attempting to hold his party together in an increasingly fractious debate over whether the leadership should back a ceasefire in Gaza.

In his resignation letter to Sir Keir, Mr Hussain said: “It has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted.

“I believe the party needs to go further and call for a ceasefire.”

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The MP for Bradford East was explicit in condemning Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel but said the situation in Gaza was horrific.

“As I write, more than 1,400 Israeli and over 10,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last month,” he wrote.

“This shocking number of fatalities is set to grow as indiscriminate attacks and the siege of Gaza continues.”

Mr Hussain had been on Labour’s frontbench for eight years, most recently as shadow minister for the new deal for working people.

He said he wanted to be a “strong advocate for the humanitarian ceasefire”.

“It is clear that I cannot sufficiently, in all good conscience, do this from the frontbench given its current position,” he wrote.

Mr Hussain said he was “deeply troubled” by Sir Keir’s comments on the war in an LBC interview, in which the Labour leader appeared to suggest that cutting off water and power to Gaza was an appropriate response by Israel.

Sir Keir later sought to clarify his comments, saying that while Israel had a “right to self-defence”, that did not mean it should withhold humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is home to 2.2 million civilians.

The Labour leader has resisted calls for a full ceasefire on the grounds it would “embolden” Hamas and allow it to carry out similar attacks to 7 October, when 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

Instead, he has taken the same stance as the US and backed calls for a humanitarian pause to allow aid into Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 people have now been killed.

Asked about Mr Hussain’s resignation, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky’s Kay Burley: “I do understand colleagues’ strength of feeling on this, we every day see on our television screens the horrifying images of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

She said a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid into Gaza was “absolutely essential” and that the UK needed to “go faster” in delivering it.

Despite attempting to hold off further rebellions with a series of interventions last week, the leader of Burnley Council and 10 other councillors resigned from Labour over Sir Keir’s decision not to push for a ceasefire.

It takes the total number of councillors who have resigned over the row to 50, while 18 shadow ministers have defied the official Labour position by calling for a ceasefire.

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Ms Phillipson also told Sky News MPs had a “duty and responsibility” to be careful with their language and behaviour when asked whether they were allowed to attend pro-Palestinian rallies.

“We’ve been told that we need to be careful that we don’t end up alongside people where there may be banners or language being used that is unacceptable,” she said.

She added that while the majority of people on the marches wanted to see more aid getting into Gaza, “I think politicians, all of us, we’ve got to a duty and a responsibility to choose our language with care, but also to act in a way that sets an example to the country”.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Labour fully understands calls for a ceasefire.

“Everybody wants to see an end to the shocking images we are seeing in Gaza. We need to see all hostages released and aid getting to those most in need.

“But a ceasefire now will only freeze this conflict and would leave hostages in Gaza and Hamas with the infrastructure and capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October.

“International law must be followed at all times and innocent civilians must be protected.

“Labour is calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

“This is the best and most realistic way to address the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and is a position shared by our major allies, in the US and the EU.”