JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Palestinians should be given the choice to leave Gaza.

Speaking to Jewish American organizations gathered in Jerusalem, Netanyahu again praised U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.

"Give them a choice. Not forcible eviction. Not ethnic cleansing," he said.

Trump's call for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza, including to Egypt and Jordan, has been widely condemned with some critics saying that it amounted to "ethnic cleansing".

Trump has said that he wants the U.S. to take ownership of Gaza and rebuild it into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier met in Israel with Netanyahu.