ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Senior Hamas officials on Wednesday strongly criticized Donald Trump’s remarks after the US president said they would “take over the Gaza Strip” and resettle Palestinians in other countries, during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region. Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement. "What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land."

The statement was echoed by Izzat al-Rishq, another senior Hamas official, saying that the people in Gaza “are rooted in their land and will not accept any schemes aimed at uprooting them.”

The criticism from Hamas officials came after Trump said that the only “reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative,” adding that “The US will take over the Gaza strip and we will do a job with it… dismantling all of the dangers, unexploded bombs and other weapons,” and “level it out and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

Suggesting "long-term ownership" by the US, Trump said his plan for Gaza would make it "the Riviera of the Middle East," an idea Netanyahu said could "change history" and was worth "paying attention to."

Trump has recently upped pressure on Jordan and Egypt to “take people,” referring to Palestinians, a proposal that was flatly dismissed by a large number of Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League.

“I think Jordan and Egypt will. I know they have spoken about it with you, and they say they are not going to accept, I say they will,” Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday, adding that he thinks “other countries will accept also.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in the US on Tuesday, as talks on securing a second phase of the Israel-Hamas truce have begun.

Hamas stated on Tuesday that negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal had already begun.