US President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to take in Gazans, saying Palestinians there had no alternative but to abandon the coastal strip, which must be rebuilt after nearly 16 months of Israel’s devastating war.

However, Reuters notes, this time Trump said he would support resettling Palestinians “permanently”, going beyond his previous suggestions that Arab leaders had already steadfastly rejected.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land”.

“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said.

Trump, a Republican, offered no specifics on how a resettlement process could be implemented but his proposal echoed the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicted Democratic former US president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.