Dentist had initially been denied clearance because of his weekly phone contact with his mother and brother in Israel.

The alternative was for the airline to end its policy of discriminating against Israeli passengers.

The IAF’s secretive Fire Tower visual intelligence system is used on every reconnaissance and surveillance air force mission and plays a critical role in monitoring enemy activity.

“That was barbaric what they did. They are barbarians,” one of the victims said.

Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, Tehran's public prosecutor was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.

The Qatari donations have buoyed Gaza's de facto Islamist Hamas rulers, irking Israel and the US-backed Palestinian administration based in the occupied West Bank.

Argentine-born Francis had a close relationship with the Jewish community even before his election to the papacy, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

American leaders spelled out in the bleakest terms what it would mean for future Israeli generations and where a one-state reality dominated by Israel would leave the Palestinians.