It was a day of jubilation, one for the history books – a day on which an entire country finally exhaled.

But it was also a day on which the limelight was, if not quite stolen by Donald Trump, then at least shared with the US president as he made a triumphant visit to Israel for the first time in his second term.

Ordinary Israelis had waited 737 agonising days for this moment. Across the country, the outpouring of emotion was visceral – there was raw, raucous celebration and relief as a nation welcomed back its missing sons after more than two years in subterranean captivity.

Mr Trump was never far away, there to take credit for the ceasefire that brought the hostages home and that could translate into a deal that will permanently silence the guns in Gaza.

With his loyal lieutenants in tow, he held court in the Knesset, soaking up the adulation as legislators vied to outdo one another in honouring a man they feted like a monarch.

Amir Ohana, the Speaker of Israel’s parliament, hailed him as not only the greatest US president of all time but also the most towering “giant of Jewish history” since Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who freed the Israelites from Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BC.