On Wednesday, Joe Biden, the President of the United States, arrived in Israel on a solidarity visit following Hamas attacks, under the shadow of a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital that has inflamed regional tensions.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, personally greeted Biden on the tarmac, placing his arms around the US president who then clasped his hands around Netanyahu in a sign of the newfound bond between the two leaders.
Under unusually packed security even for the US president, Biden and Netanyahu talked briefly on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport covered by their guards before their motorcades set off for a Tel Aviv hotel where they will hold discussions.
Hundreds of armed police and armies were stationed around the seafront Tel Aviv hotel where Netanyahu and Biden will meet, with armed snipers on the roofs of nearby villas.
Tel Aviv is just 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-ruled territory that Israel has been attacking since a devastating October 7 invasion by the Palestinian Hamas militants.
