US President Donald Trump predicted on Tuesday that the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, could become "the Riviera of the Middle East" as he announced his plan to take control of it.

"The Riviera of the Middle East. This could be something that could be so magnificent," Trump said at a joint press conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which he again voiced hopes that Palestinians could be removed from Gaza, and said the United States would redevelop the territory.

"I love Israel. I will visit there and I'll visit Gaza and I'll visit Saudi Arabia and I'll visit other places all over the Middle East," Trump told reporters at the White House, without committing to any timetable.

The comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the US.

Trump outlined his thinking as he held talks with Netanyahu at the White House, where the two leaders also discussed the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israeli-Hamas conflict and shared concerns about Iran.

“I don’t think people should be going back," Trump said. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy."

Trump said the US would take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East" in which the “world's people” - including Palestinians - would live.

“We’ll make sure that it’s done world class," Trump said. "It’ll be wonderful for the people - Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”

Egypt, Jordan and other US allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the US and allies for a two-state solution.

Still, Trump insists the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the "big pile of rubble” that is Gaza. He spoke out as his top aides stressed that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.

Last week, both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump's calls to resettle Gazans.

But Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan - as well as other countries, which he did not name - will ultimately agree to take in Palestinians.

“You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,” Trump said. "This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”

Trump also said he isn’t ruling out deploying US troops to support reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions “long-term” US ownership of a redevelopment of the territory.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and for the 15-month conflict to end.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League joined Egypt and Jordan in rejecting plans to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. (Agencies)