The Gaza Strip "belongs to the Palestinians", German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesday after President Donald Trump suggested the United States should take over the war-ravaged territory.
"The civilian population of Gaza must not be expelled and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or repopulated," Baerbock said in a statement.
The forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would be "unacceptable and contrary to international law", she said.
"It would also lead to new suffering and new hatred," she said. "It is clear that Gaza -- like the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- belongs to the Palestinians.
"They form the basis for a future Palestinian state" and a two-state solution remained the "only" option for peace, Baerbock said.
Trump made his proposal to "take over" the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US president did not give details of how he would move out more than two million Palestinians or control Gaza, but said he would make the war-battered coastal territory "unbelievable", removing rubble and driving economic redevelopment.
Baerbock said the extent of the destruction in Gaza was "shocking" and said that "we all agree that Gaza must be rebuilt as quickly as possible".
To this end, Europe was willing "to do our part together with the USA and our partners in the region", she said.
Gazans needed "political prospects" and "help for a future on their land", she said.
However, Baerbock said the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, "must no longer play a role" in the territory.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on a tour of the region, also criticised the idea of relocating Palestinians from Gaza.
"Arbitrary shortcuts, especially those that ignore international law, do not being us closer to the aim," Steinmeier was quoted as saying by his spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin.
Any solution needs to bring "security for Israel and self-determination for Palestinians", Gammelin related in a post on social media.
Steinmeier was in Turkey where he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after earlier visiting Saudi Arabia and Jordan.