The White House has been forced to delete a photo of President Joe Biden meeting U.S. special forces in Israel – which showed their faces and could have revealed their identities.

It was already known that a small group of U.S. special forces are in Israel advising on how to potentially rescue scores of hostages, including Americans, held by terror group Hamas in Gaza. 

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

It appeared to violate Department of Defense rules by revealing the men’s faces, which are usually blurred in any officially released photographs.

The White House was forced to DELETE a photo of Biden meeting with US Special Forces in Israel without blurring their faces. Dailymail.com has blurred them

Joe Biden meeting first responders in Israel where he was also pictured with U.S special forces

Everyday Pentagon practice is to hide the elite units’ identities, whether in training or on deployment.

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The men, unshaven with beards, wore camouflage and had American flags on their arms as they shook hands with Biden.

It came during an event at which the president met with Israeli medics who had responded to the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 which claimed the lives of hundreds of Jewish men, women and children. 

The now deleted White House Instagram post read: ‘In Israel, President Biden met with first responders to thank them for their bravery and the work they’re doing in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks.’ 

The White House eventually apologized for the mistake in showing the special forces operators’ faces, and took the photo down.

‘As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo,’ a White House spokesman told DailyMail.com. 

‘We regret the error and any issues this may have caused.’

Republicans slammed the blunder, with GOP Rep. Diana Harshbarger calling it ‘gross incompetence’.