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The White House was forced to remove a photo of President Joe Biden meeting with US special forces in Israel – which showed their faces and could have revealed their identities.

It was already known that a small group of American special forces is in Israel to advise on how to potentially rescue numerous hostages, including Americans, held by the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

The image of Biden shaking their hands during his visit to Israel on Wednesday was posted on the White House’s official Instagram page for hours and garnered thousands of likes and comments.

This appears to violate Defense Ministry rules by revealing the men’s faces, which are usually blurred in all officially released photographs.

Joe Biden meeting with first responders in Israel where he was also photographed with US Special Forces

The Pentagon’s daily practice is to hide the identity of elite units, whether in training or deployed.

The men, unshaven and bearded, wore camouflage clothing and had American flags on their arms as they shook Biden’s hand.

This came during an event in which the president met with Israeli medics who responded to the October 7 Hamas attack that claimed the lives of hundreds of men, women and children Jews.

The now-deleted White House Instagram post said: “In Israel, President Biden met with first responders to thank them for their courage and the work they are doing in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks.”

The White House ultimately apologized for the mistake in showing the faces of the special forces agents and removed the photo.

“As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately removed the photo,” a White House spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

“We regret the error and any problems it may have caused.”

Republicans denounced the mistake, with Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger calling it “gross incompetence.”