Israel has denied entry to a group of Canadian lawmakers who were seeking to reach the occupied West Bank to hold talks with Palestinian officials and human rights advocates, Canadian civil society groups say.

Six members of Canada’s Parliament were trying to reach the West Bank from neighbouring Jordan when the Israeli authorities turned them back, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said in a statement on Tuesday.

NCCM said the MPs – who were travelling alongside Canadian community leaders as part of a trip organised by The Canadian-Muslim Vote, a nonprofit group – were told they were considered “public safety threats”.