Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic denied on Wednesday that the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, wrote to him asking for support for the continuation of that organisation's struggle for Palestinian rights.

“There is no letter from Hamas,” Konakovic told reporters in Sarajevo, commenting on the fact that the istraga.ba news site published a copy of the alleged letter that Haniyeh sent to him.

This information, which includes the announcement that Hamas will continue to fight against Israel and that it is seeking the help of Arab and Muslim countries for this, was also reported by other media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Konakovic said that it was a forgery spread by “bribed journalists”.

The istraga.ba news site is known for its links with the now opposition Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the former head of the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA), Osman Mehmedagic.

On Wednesday, Konakovic explicitly condemned Hamas’ attacks on civilians in Israel on 7 October.

“Hamas should not have done that, there is no justification for killing civilians,” Konakovic said, adding that it is BiH’s right to appeal that the conflicts in the Middle East stop as soon as possible and that this problem be resolved peacefully.