Donald Trump has claimed that Gaza could be “better than Monaco” if the war-torn region was not such a “rough neighbourhood”.

The former president, speaking on the anniversary of the Oct 7 massacre, suggested that Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip had not done enough to take advantage of their location on the eastern Mediterranean.

“It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything,” Trump told Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio host, on Monday.

“The best water, the best everything. It is the best, I’ve said it for years.

“You know, I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place… before all of the attacks and before the back-and-forth, what’s happened over the last couple of years.”

On Oct 7 last year, Hamas fighters breached the border wall from Gaza into Israel, where they killed some 1,200 civilians – including 46 Americans – and took hundreds of others hostage.