Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gifted Donald Trump a golden pager, a symbolic reference to the covert operation that turned Hezbollah devices into lethal explosives in a bloody attack last year.

“That was a great operation,” the US president responded, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news.

Trump then gave Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, a photo of the two of them from the visit with the inscription: “To Bibi, a great leader.”

The synchronised detonation of thousands of low-tech electronic pagers on Sept 18 killed at least 12 people – including two children and two healthcare workers – and injured more than 3,000 across Lebanon and Syria.