Trump wants to 'stir' regional countries on Gaza rebuilding — Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that countries critical of President Donald Trump's comments on Gaza should step forward and help the Palestinian territory devastated by American ally Israel.

Arab countries and Palestinian leaders have voiced strong opposition to Trump's suggestion that the two million residents of Gaza move out after the devastating war.

Rubio again insisted on Thursday that Trump was offering reconstruction as Gaza for now is "uninhabitable."

He said Trump's controversial remarks were aimed in part to encourage other countries that "have both the economic and technological capacity" to help as well with rebuilding.

Speaking at a news conference alongside Dominican President Luis Abinader, Rubio defended Trump's controversial Gaza proposal to "take over" the enclave while describing Gaza as uninhabitable due to the destruction caused by the Israeli war and the presence of unexploded munitions.

"President Trump has offered to go in and be a part of that solution," Rubio told reporters.

"If some other countries are willing to step forward and do it themselves, that would be great," he said. "We encourage them to step forward and find a solution and answer to their problem."

"It seems to me that there are a lot of countries in the world that like to express concern about Gaza and about the Palestinian people, but very few were willing, in the past, to do anything concrete about it," he added.

Trump repeats plan

Asked whether Palestinians would be able to return to Gaza, Rubio did not provide a direct answer. Instead, he highlighted the dangers of unexploded ordnance.

"I think that’s just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim."

Trump said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that the US would "take over" Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into "the Riviera of the Middle East."

The proposal has been widely condemned by world leaders.

Rubio and other Trump administration officials have attempted to walk back Trump's shocking idea. But Trump keeps on doubling down in the proposal.

Trump on Thursday took to his social media platform to insist the US could take over Gaza without needing to send in troops and that Palestinians would be resettled elsewhere in the region with new and modern homes and "would actually have a chance to be happy, safe and free."