Javier Solana, European Union foreign policy chief, was on Thursday forced to issue a retraction after saying he had made "direct contact" with Hamas, listed by the EU as a banned terrorist group.

Israel reacted angrily to his initial comments and urged Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary visiting Jerusalem, to rein in the European envoy. Mr Solana, furious at the way his remarks to the BBC were interpreted, said he had not "wished to imply that direct contacts between himself and Hamas had taken place".