Donald Trump has doubled down on his pledge to buy Gaza, vowing to first demolish the remaining buildings in the war-ravaged territory.

The president, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to attend the Super Bowl, also said that other countries in the Middle East would be the ones to help develop the territory.

Mr Trump’s comments built upon his highly controversial plans to resettle Palestinians elsewhere while the Gaza Strip is transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

He also warned that he was losing patience with the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, comparing the gaunt appearance of Israeli hostages released on Saturday to Holocaust survivors.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” he told reporters, adding: “There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished.”

While the president did not say who the US would purchase the territory from, he heralded the land as a “big real estate site”.

“I think that it’s a big mistake to allow people - the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza - to go back yet another time, and we don’t want Hamas going back. Think of it as a big real estate site, and the US is going to own it and we’ll slowly develop it,” he said.