Evangelist Franklin Graham met and prayed with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, during a visit to the nation.

The 71-year-old, who leads the international evangelical charity Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said it had been a "privilege to meet and pray" with the nation's leader.

Graham shared a picture of the encounter on social media.

"This man needs our prayers," he wrote in the post.

"He is facing the most trying time since the birth of their nation with 1,200 people killed, more than 240 men, women, and children taken as hostages, and many injured in the Hamas attack. As I spoke with a woman whose husband was taken hostage, the fear and heartache is overwhelming.

"Pray for these hostages and their families, pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem," he concluded.
Rev Graham was visiting the areas where Samaritan's Purse is working to provide aid following the attack on 7th October. The evangelist's organisation has deployed a disaster relief team to the country, and is working with more than 50 churches in Israel and Gaza.

According to a press statement, Samaritan's Purse is also supplying trauma kits to first responders in high-risk communities, equipped with essential resources like tourniquets, chest tube kits, sutures, and intubation kits.