Four of Britain’s most senior lawyers have accused the BBC of abandoning impartiality by refusing to describe Hamas as “terrorists”.

In a letter to Ofcom, Lord Wolfson KC, Lord Pannick KC, Lord Grabiner KC and Jeremy Brier KC urged the regulator to investigate the corporation.

They said that the BBC had taken sides and described Hamas in “more sympathetic terms”.

The four co-signed the letter alongside Lord Polak, honorary president of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

They said: “On 7th October 2023, Hamas launched a large invasion of the State of Israel which resulted variously in the slaughter, rape and abduction of over a thousand Israeli citizens.

“There is nothing controversial about that. It is a fact.

“The BBC has fallen well below the standards expressed in its Editorial Values in reporting of that invasion and the consequences therefrom.”