President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be "permanently" resettled outside the war-torn territory.

Trump made the provocative comments at the start of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in Israeli-Hamas conflict.

"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's comments came as he and top advisers made the case 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.

"You look over the decades, it's all death in Gaza,” Trump added. "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."