A ministerial aide has broken ranks with Rishi Sunak to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Paul Bristow, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, wrote a letter to Mr Sunak on Thursday urging a “permanent” break in hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

The Prime Minister last week urged a pause in fighting to allow for more aid to get into Gaza, but has stopped short of pushing for a full ceasefire.

In a two-page letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Bristow said: “Thousands have been killed and more than one million now displaced. It is difficult to understand how this makes Israel more secure or indeed makes anything better.”

He welcomed calls from Mr Sunak last week for “specific pauses” in the fighting, but added: “A permanent ceasefire would save lives and allow for a continued column of humanitarian aid [to] reach the people who need it the most.

“Access to water, electricity and fuel is vital for the Palestinian people. My constituents and I would be grateful for your comments on the actions our Government is taking to ensure that people in Gaza do not face collective punishment for the crimes of Hamas.”

‘Ordinary Palestinians are not Hamas’

In further comments on his Facebook page, Mr Bristow said: “Ordinary Palestinians are not Hamas. I struggle to see how Israel is any safer following thousands of deaths of innocent Palestinians.

“They should not suffer collective punishment for the crimes of Hamas. We need a ceasefire.”

A post including the letter on Mr Bristow’s website on Thursday has now been deleted, but it remains live on his Facebook page. It was not posted to his Twitter or Instagram profiles.

Mr Bristow is the MP for Peterborough, where the Muslim population is almost double the national average.

According to the 2021 census, Peterborough has a Muslim population of 12.2 per cent, while the proportion of the overall British population identifying as Muslim is 6.5 per cent.

He is also the co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims, which sets out to highlight the “aspirations and challenges” facing Muslim communities in Britain and recognise their contribution to society.

The Telegraph understands that Mr Bristow does not intend to alter his view of the conflict and feels it is important to represent the concerns of Muslim groups in his constituency.

In a phone call on Sunday night with Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, a No 10 spokesman said Mr Sunak had expressed “serious concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza”.

The spokesman added that the leaders had “shared their serious concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed the importance of increasing the supplies of water, medicines and fuel reaching civilians”.

Earlier this month, Downing Street rebuked Crispin Blunt – who was a Tory MP at the time before his arrest last week in connection to a rape allegation, which he has denied – after Mr Blunt suggested the UK could be complicit in war crimes being committed in Gaza.

But Tory MPs have otherwise united behind the Government’s position. This is in contrast to the open revolt facing Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, from more than a dozen of his shadow ministers who have demanded a ceasefire.

Mr Bristow and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology were contacted for comment.