Four council workers have been sacked for sending antisemitic emails comparing Israel’s operations in Gaza to the Holocaust.

Five other staff members received written warnings and have since returned to work at Lancashire County Council.

The office workers were suspended in April after the messages were discovered on the authority’s email accounts. The council said the staff had both sent and received “highly inappropriate emails”.

The sacked staff are appealing against the decision.

It is believed the message was titled “Holocaust Survivors” and showed pictures from Nazi Germany alongside modern images from Gaza.

Its introduction stated: “The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany.”

Council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said: “This has been an unfortunate incident, but an isolated one.”

A spokeswoman for Standards for England, which investigates councillors’ conduct, said it had not received a complaint about Councillor Salim Mulla of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, who had also forwarded the email.

Councillor Mulla is also the vice-chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques.