The team of more tha 200 Israeli officers and soldiers earned international praise for its rescue efforts in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean island.

With them they brought a six-year-old boy, Woodley Elyse, who was expected to have urgent heart surgery at the Wolfson Medical Centre in Holon, near Tel Aviv, this week.

At a welcoming reception for the Israeli medics and rescuers, Netanyahu said that the field hospital they had set up in Haiti had "raised the name of the State of Israel and the name of the IDF".

He added: "While there are those who conspire against us and distort and degrade the name of the IDF and the name of the State of Israel, you showed the world the true spirit of the IDF - an apparent reference to the Goldstone Report, which slammed IDF conduct during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year.

Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said that the team was a "source of pride for every Jew and every Israeli".

He added: "The capabilities of the Home Front Command and the Medical Corps were already known in the past. In this mission though you crossed new borders."

Ashkenazi said that at a NATO conference which he had just attended in Brussels, foreign military chiefs had praised the job done by the Israelis in Haiti.

"Every personal conversation, and even formal speeches during the conference, opened with praise for your work," he went on. "As commander of the military, I was excited to represent you. We are proud of you and salute you."

The commander of the delegation to the stricken island, Brigadier General Shalom Ben-Aryeh, noted that everyone they treated would have died if not for their efforts.