Long-serving Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell has been sacked by the newspaper in a row over a drawing he created of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The cartoon, featuring Netanyahu operating on his own stomach, showed a cut in the outline of the Gaza Strip.

Bell said the cartoon was spiked after a phone call from the paper suggested it may reference Shakespeare's Shylock's "pound of flesh" line.

He said it was inspired by a 60s cartoon of President Lyndon B Johnson.

Writing on X, Bell said he submitted the image earlier this month and "four hours later... I received an ominous phone call from the desk with the strangely cryptic message 'pound of flesh'..."

Bell said he responded: "I'm sorry, I don't understand," and the reply from the desk was: "Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope."

Moneylender Shylock, from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, is considered to be one of the most notorious Jewish stereotypes in English literature due to his greedy nature.

In the Bard's famous play, Shylock asks for a pound of Antonio's flesh if a loan isn't repaid within three months.