Pro-Israel MP Margot James says country’s action in Gaza is ‘disproportionate’

“However I do not think that the swift, and terrible, elimination of so many Palestinian lives, homes, hospitals and schools can be deemed a proportionate response to the crude rocket fire to which Israel is undoubtedly subject.”

Ms James is a former adviser to trade minister Lord Livingston and has been appointed as parliamentary private secretary to William Hague following his departure as Foreign Secretary last month.

In the letter, the MP admits that Hamas “bears substantial responsibility for the lives lost on both sides” and attacks the “deliberate use of the lives of innocent Palestinian civilians as, in effect, human shields”.

But she concluded: “I ask that the government rethinks policy towards the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The scale of suffering in Gaza is far too great, the loss of life, and particularly the lives of children and other vulnerable individuals, cannot be justified on the grounds of defence in proportion to the level of threat faced by Israel from Hamas.”

Since becoming Foreign Secretary, Mr Hammond has said Israel’s Operation Protective Edge has undermined its support in the West, but has held back from condemning the action as “disproportionate”.