Bangladesh lauded Palestinian people for exercising their democratic rights by electing a new parliament "according to their own free will" and hoped the international community would respect their verdict.
"Bangladesh believes that it is important that the international community respects the will of the Palestinian people and hopes that all parties involved will take a pragmatic path that will contribute positively to the successful implementation of the Road Map for Peace in the Middle East," said a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Wednesday.
It observed that Bangladesh has always strongly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people and their "legitimate and inalienable right to a free and sovereign Palestinian state."
Hard-liner Islamic group Hamas won a huge majority in the first parliamentary elections of Palestine in a decade, held on January 26, putting an end to a longtime rule of the moderate Fatah party.