The United Kingdom is trying to walk a “tricky line” between maintaining ties with Israel and criticising the country for preventing the entry of British parliamentarians, Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego says.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said it was “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning” that Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were detained and refused entry to Israel, which accused the members of parliament of supporting boycotts against it.

“It is quite a troublesome situation for the [British] foreign minister and indeed for the British government. What they want to see is a return to ceasefire negotiations and see more attention applied to freeing hostages,” Gallego said, reporting from London.

“[The situation over the lawmakers] just muddies the whole diplomatic process. And because the UK has also vocalised its deep concern over Israel’s expansion of its military operations in Gaza, this could be seen as another tit-for-tat diplomatic war between Israel and the UK.”