JERUSALEM - Despite a looming escalation of the war in Garza with tens of thousands of reservists being called up for a major ground operation to seize and hold more land, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took time out on Monday to meet with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

"I want to welcome President Daniel Noboa from Ecuador. Ecuador and Israel have a great friendship, I look forward to cementing this friendship even further with the decisions that we've made today in the fields of agriculture, in the fields of water, in the fields of defense, security and others," Netanyahu told a press conference at his office in Jerusalem on Monday.

"We decided on a very practical thing that our experts will work together in order to see how we can cooperate. I want to do that as fast as possible because I think that we value your friendship, value your decision to put an innovation center in Jerusalem."

"We like to work closely with our friends for our common values of truly democratic countries that seek prosperity, peace and security. And this is what we are pledged to do with each other," the Israeli prime minister said.

The Ecuadorian president was equally gracious.

"Thank you, prime minister. I'd like to thank you and all your team for the efforts you've made to make us feel at home. We've been friends, allies and a nation that cooperates with Israel," he told the news conference

"For us, it's simple. We have the same enemies. Our enemies are poverty, terrorism, misery, and we fight them, and will fight them until the end."

"You always have my support, you always have my friendship and the nation of Ecuador's. We'll work together to reach the common goals, through democracy. We would love to have you," President Noboa said.

On Sunday night, President Naboa and his South American's country's delegation, visited the Western Wall where he was photgraphed wearing a hostage pin on his lapel.