The government has said Bangladeshi passport-holders' travel ban remains in force after news reports and a tweet by an Israeli official said Bangladesh had removed the travel ban.

The confusion over the ban to Israel was created after the Bangladesh government six months ago removed the "except for Israel" part of the notification "This passport is valid for all countries of the world, except for Israel" in the passport.

Attaching a news report by Weekly Blitz, Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted that Bangladesh removed its travel ban to Israel.

"Great news! Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step and I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with Israel so both our peoples could benefit and prosper," he tweeted.

In a statement, the foreign ministry yesterday said the removal of the observation has been done to maintain international standards of Bangladeshi e-passports and does not imply any change of Bangladesh's foreign policy towards the Middle East.

"The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport-holders to Israel remains unchanged. The government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard," it said.

"We have not yet recognised Israel… we are very vocally in favour of Palestine. We believe in the two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict in light of the UN resolutions recognising pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine," Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters after a discussion on the 48th anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's receipt of the Joliot-Curie Medal.

The foreign ministry organised the event at the Foreign Service Academy in the city.

The foreign minister said the home ministry has looked at the passports of many other countries, and was convinced that there will be no change if the words "except for Israel" are deleted. It is not in any denote a change in Bangladesh's foreign policy.

"It does not mean that you can go to Israel as the writing is deleted," Momen said.

Asked about updates on the Covid-19 vaccine, he referred to his telephone conversation last week with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who assured him that there will be no disruption in supply of vaccine to Bangladesh as it begins Sinopharm vaccine import from China.

"We are happy about it."

He also said the US has not yet said if it would supply two million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Bangladesh as sought.

"The US FDA [Federal Drug Administration] has yet to approve export of AstraZeneca vaccine, but has approved export of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines."

At the discussion, the minister said the government would organise a two-day World Peace Conference in November.

He said Bangabandhu had fought for peace and against war all his life and the Joliot-Curie Medal was recognition of that fact.