Ron DeSantis, one of the US Republican party’s top presidential candidates, has said he would not oppose Israel pushing Palestinians out of their homeland, adding that the displaced could go to other Arab countries, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking at his party’s presidential primary debate last night, DeSantis said: “If [Israel] makes the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust, they need to do that […] I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some, Egypt should take some.”

DeSantis’s primary opponent, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, also doubled down on support for Israel at the debate.

Haley said the US, which sends Israel $3.9bn in military aid annually, should give the country “whatever it wants”.