Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has condemned the US president’s suggestion to relocate Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of “war crimes”, Al Jazeera reports.

Describing Donald Trump’s idea as “deplorable,” the group, which has fought a war with Israel alongside Hamas until last week’s ceasefire, said his “proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land”.

It also said Trump’s statement was “in line with the worst of the agenda of the extreme Zionist right and a continuation of the policy of denying the existence of the Palestinian people, their will and their rights” and called Egypt and Jordan to reject his plan.