Donald Trump has joked that he is "not heaven bound", whilst en route to Israel.

Hours ahead of the first Israeli hostages being handed over, the President told reporters on board Air Force One: "I don't think there's anything going to get me in heaven."

It was in response to Fox News's Peter Doocey, who reminded the President that he had wanted to secure a Ukrainian peace deal to increase his chance of reaching eternity. 

"Does this help?" asked Doocey, of the Israel-Hamas agreement. 

"I'm being a little cute," Trump joked. "I think I'm maybe not heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. 

"I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make heaven, but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people." 

He immediately launched into an attack on the Biden administration, saying: "Had the election of 2020 not been rigged, you would have millions of people living just in Russia, Ukraine alone... I knew Putin very well, I was the apple of his eye. All the things that I've said never would have happened."

Earlier this year, Trump's team launched an email fundraising campaign with the strapline: "I want to try and get to heaven." 

It followed comments the President made to Fox that he was "bottom of the totem pole" to reach heaven.

“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed," he said of the Russia-Ukraine war. "I think that’s pretty… I want to try to get to heaven if possible."

“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well," he added.

"But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”