Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has been photographed writing "Finish Them" on an Israeli shell likely to be used in Gaza.

The incident occurred earlier Monday as she toured sites near the northern border with Lebanon.

The photograph was posted on X on Tuesday by Danny Danon, a member of the Israeli parliament and former ambassador to the United Nations, who was accompanying Haley on her visit.

"'Finish Them'. This is what my friend the former ambassador Nikki Haley wrote," Danon said in his post that showed a kneeling Haley writing on a shell with a purple marker pen.

Haley was a hawkish U.N. envoy under Donald Trump and her term overlapped with Danon.

The conflict was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Out of 252 people taken hostage that day, 128 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including at least 37 who the army says are dead.

Israel has killed over 36,096 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip since, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.

Haley, 52, abandoned her White House bid in March after heavy defeats in Republican primary contests to Trump, and last week said that she would vote for him in the election.

Trump has ruled her out of contention to be his vice president, but she is a potential presidential runner in 2028.

The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden has no plans to change his Israel policy following a deadly weekend strike on Rafah but that he is not turning a "blind eye" to the plight of Palestinian civilians.