Washington (CNN) The Trump administration will move its US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, the State Department announced Friday, coinciding with Israel's 70th anniversary.

While symbolically important, the move is likely a preliminary step in a broader relocation effort initiated by the administration in December, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said will take "years."

The embassy will first be set up in an existing US facility in the West Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona that "will contain office space for the Ambassador and a small staff," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement announcing the plan. The facility will function as the official embassy while plans to secure a permanent location and design a building are drawn up.

"By the end of next year, we intend to open a new Embassy Jerusalem annex on the Arnona compound that will provide the Ambassador and his team with expanded interim office space," Nauert added. "In parallel, we have started the search for a site for our permanent Embassy to Israel, the planning and construction of which will be a longer-term undertaking."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the announcement in a statement, saying it would, "turn Israel's 70th Independence Day into an even greater national celebration."

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