Moshe Manies, who returned the ‘ballista stone’ on behalf of the man who stole it, posted about the relic on Facebook.

He said it has been taken by a teenager from the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David 15 years ago.

The stones were likely used by the Romans in 70CE in their siege of Jerusalem.

“Meanwhile, he married and raised a family, and told me that for the past 15 years the stone is weighing heavily on his heart,” Mr Manies wrote.

“And now, when he came across it while cleaning for Passover, together with the apocalyptic feeling the Coronavirus generated, he felt the time was ripe to clear his conscience, and he asked me to help him return it to the Israel Antiquities Authority.”