US officials and Israeli Foreign Ministry sources have said that the incoming US ambassador to Israel could be based in Jerusalem, while the official embassy building remains in Tel Aviv.

Incoming President-elect Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly said that the new president intends to make good on the campaign trail promise to relocate the US Embassy to the country to Jerusalem.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognised by the international community in the 1967 Six Day War, and both the Israelis and Palestinians claim the city as their capital.

Almost all countries’ diplomatic missions to Israel are located in Tel Aviv. The proposed move has been strongly criticised by Palestinian Authority officials including President Mahmoud Abbas, liberal Israeli groups, and the US’ allies throughout the Arab and wider world.

Most have warned the move would be damaging to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and could spark further violence.

On Tuesday, Israeli and American media reported that new US ambassador to the country David Friedman could be based in Jerusalem, living and working in the existing smaller US consulate there, while the official embassy complex continues to be located in Tel Aviv.

Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada The proclamation of the state of Israel is read by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948 © EPA Israel: From independence to intifada Sixty years on, an illuminated flag is shown in Tel Aviv this week © PA Israel: From independence to intifada Young Jews celebrate the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948 © AFP/Getty Images Israel: From independence to intifada Palestinian children throw stones at a retreating Israeli tank during an incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin in August 2003 following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem © AP Israel: From independence to intifada How Israel's borders have changed - click image to enlarge © Independent Graphics Israel: From independence to intifada From 1948-50, the world's mostcelebrated war photographer Robert Capa captured extraordinary imagesof Israel's pioneering settlers. Here, Turkish immigrants arrive in Haifa © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada The Negba kibbutz, where the walls have been damaged by shells fired during the Israeli-Arab war © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum

US officials speaking on condition of anonymity told CNN one option would simply be to “switch the signs” on the existing buildings, although the number of additional staff needed would mean the Jerusalem operation would have to be expanded.

The US government already owns part of a property in the west of the city that could serve as a home to a future embassy there.

Israeli TV station Channel 2 reported the same thing, citing Israeli Foreign Ministry officials, who again spoke anonymously so they could talk freely.