An Israeli minister has announced plans to name a railway station near the Western Wall after US President Donald Trump following his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Transport Minister Yisrael Katz chose to honour Mr Trump as a gesture of gratitude for the decision, which will see the US Embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

He told the Israeli daily paper Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday: “The Western Wall is the holiest site of the Jewish people and I have decided to name the train station leading to it after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, following his courageous and historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.”

Mr Katz gave the green light to an Israel Railways steering committee’s recommendations proposing the development of a Western Wall train station at the Cardo, an ancient street in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter near the Kotel.

The station, which the minister referred to as “Donald John Trump Station”, is one of two proposed to make up an extension to the forthcoming high-speed railway line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem’s western entrance.

It will run via the city of Modi'in and Ben-Gurion International Airport and cost 2.5 billion shekels (£535 million).

Mr Katz declared the extension his ministry’s most important national project, adding that a high-speed station would let visitors reach “the beating heart of the Jewish people: the Western Wall and the Temple Mount”.