The United States President, Joe Biden, has arrived in Israel on a solidarity visit.
Biden’s Air Force One touched down just before 11 am (0800 GMT) on Wednesday at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
Israeli’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, personally welcomed him on the tarmac.
Under unusually tight security even for the US president, Biden and Netanyahu chatted briefly on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport surrounded by their guards before their motorcades set off for a Tel Aviv hotel where they will hold talks.
Hundreds of armed police and troops were stationed around the seafront Tel Aviv hotel where Netanyahu and Biden will meet, with armed snipers on the roofs of nearby villas, according to AFP.
Tel Aviv is just 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-ruled territory which Israel has been pounding since a devastating October 7 attack by Hamas militants.
