“To every student who has come to our country on a visa to a college campus, your visa is a privilege, not a right,” Mr Scott said.

“Any campus that allows more anti-Semitism and hate, who allow students to encourage terrorism, mass murder and genocide, you should lose your federal funding today. Period.”

Asked about the war on Hamas more generally, Ms Haley said her message to Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu was “finish them” while Mr DeSantis described the terrorists as “butchers”.

“Hamas should release every hostage and they should unconditionally surrender,” the Florida governor said. “I’m sick of hearing the media, I’m sick of hearing other people blame Israel just for defending itself.”

Ramaswamy appears to call Zelensky a ‘Nazi’

The ever-outspoken Vivek Ramaswamy labelled the war in Ukraine a “disaster”, demanding his rival candidates “level with the American people here” that “Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy”.

Meanwhile, Ms Haley and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, struck a firm line on supporting Ukraine and Israel.

During his tirade, Mr Ramaswamy appeared to call the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, a “Nazi”. After the debate he clarified that he misspoke. 

“Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy,” he said. “It has celebrated a Nazi in its ranks, the comedian in cargo pants, a man called Zelensky”.

Mr Ramaswamy’s spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said he was referring to the Ukrainian president joining the Canadian parliament in a standing ovation for a 98-year-old Ukrainian war veteran.

It later emerged Mr Hunka fought for a military unit under Nazi command during World War Two, though Mr Zelensky and other MPs had no knowledge of Mr Hunka’s background at the time.

Ms McLaughlin confirmed Mr Ramaswamy did not mean to refer to Mr Zelensky as a Nazi. “He was talking quickly and kind of oscillated in his words,” she said.

The young entrepreneur, who has fallen in polls after a surprising early surge over the summer, was in attack mode from the opening minutes of the debate.

He used his first speaking segment to demand that Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, come on stage and resign, before turning his fire on NBC moderator Kristen Welker.

Ms Haley claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be “salivating” at the prospect of someone like Mr Ramaswamy becoming president.

‘Leave my daughter’s name out of your voice’

It was not the only flashpoint between the two on the night. Ms Haley called Mr Ramaswamy “scum” after he attacked her for allowing her daughter to use TikTok.

“Leave my daughter’s name out of your voice,” Ms Haley said. “You’re just scum.”

The remark drew boos and jeers from the audience, which had until that point loudly applauded and cheered all of Mr Ramaswamy’s remarks.

Mr DeSantis and Chris Christie also pledged to ban TikTok for “poisoning the minds” of young Americans as the app reared its head in the debate again.

TikTok has been prominent in the campaign and a proxy for the candidates to talk about China in a way that affects parents concerned about their children.

“As the dad of a six, five and a three-year-old, I’m concerned about the data that they’re getting from our young people and what they’re doing to pollute the minds of our young people,” Mr DeSantis said.

Donald Trump, the overwhelming frontrunner in the race, declared the debate “unwatchable” as he held a rival event with thousands of supporters down the road in Hialeah.

He singled out his two leading rivals, Ms Haley and Mr DeSantis, for criticism, but added: “Nationally we’re up at numbers that frankly nobody’s seen before.”