Trump said today that Israel would hand over Gaza to the US after fighting was over and the enclave’s population was already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no US troops would be needed on the ground.

Earlier this week, Trump said he wanted to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan, demolish remaining buildings to make way for a Riviera-style development project and place the occupied territory under American “ownership”.

“The main thing now is to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to all those in need,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

“We believe that the main task today is to ensure the implementation of agreements between Israel and Hamas.”

“Any populist, frivolous, or shocking arguments about any other palliative measures at the present stage are counter-productive and do not contribute to solving the problem, but only fuel tension in the region and to all the already extremely aggravated problems,” Zakharova said of Trump’s remarks.