US eyes Israel's blockade on Gaza as model for Mexico border wall

Israel last month hosted the US Homeland Security Secretary for a visit to the Gaza border to review security measures which could be used in the construction of a wall along the Mexican border.

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan took his US counterpart Kirstjen Nielsen to the border with Gaza, where she inspected hi-tech fences which seal off the besieged enclave from the outside world.

The US official also viewed Israel's security measures along the 230-kilometre border with Egypt.

"She told me there is certainly a lot to learn here, and I reckon that some of this will certainly be implemented in what the United States is setting up on its border with Mexico," Erdan told Israel's Ynet TV on Tuesday in an interview near Gaza's border.

During her visit, Nielsen also looked at underground wall ideas designed to block Hamas tunnels, as well as early warning systems for foiling incursions from Gaza, Erdan said.

The US embassy in Jerusalem had no immediate comment.

Last year, Trump signed an executive order telling officials to begin to "plan, design and construct a physical wall" along the 3,200-kilometre US-Mexico border, making good on a campaign pledge.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hailed the decision.

Israeli-owned defence manufacturer Elta North America was one of four companies chosen to build a prototype for the border wall.

The company is a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries.

Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank spans 670 kilometres and denies Palestinians access to East Jerusalem.

Critics say the wall – 85 percent of which runs inside the West Bank - is designed to annex illegal Israeli settlements, and separates Palestinian farmers from their lands.

In 2003, the UN issued a report which condemned the wall as illegal and tantamount to "an unlawful act of annexation".