The new US ambassador to Israel prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, delivering a handwritten message from President Donald Trump calling for peace in Israel.
Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor, has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel, backing calls to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before such talk became increasingly mainstream.
He presented his diplomatic credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday, as Israel's 18-month war against Hamas Palestinian militants continues in the Gaza Strip.
Located in east Jerusalem --- a sector of the holy city that is occupied and annexed by Israel --- the Western Wall is the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and is the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray.
"It was such an honour, an incredible privilege, to place on behalf of the president of the United States President Donald J Trump, a prayer that he wrote in his own hand, and initialled," Huckabee, wearing a traditional Jewish kippa cap, told reporters at the site.
He said Trump handed him the message at the White House with an instruction that the first thing he should do as an ambassador to Israel would be to deliver his message.
Trump gave the note "with the hope that I would bring it and place it in the wall, with the best wishes and the prayers of the American people for the peace of Jerusalem," Huckabee said, showing the small, handwritten note.
It read: "For Peace in Israel". The note had Trump's initials "D.T".
Huckabee said that he too offered his own prayer at the holy site, calling for the return of all hostages still held in Gaza.
"We will bring them home, and that is the prayer of the president as well," he said.
On October 7, 2023, the Hamas Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, triggering the ongoing Gaza war.
During the assault, militants captured 251 individuals, 58 of whom remain hostage in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
On Friday, Hamas rejected the latest Israeli proposal for a ceasefire deal.
According to a senior Hamas official, it called for a 45-day truce in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages, the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and authorisation for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
However, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group would not agree to a "partial deal".
He said Hamas "seeks a comprehensive deal involving a single-package prisoner exchange in return for halting the war, a withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the commencement of reconstruction" in the territory.
