Donald Trump has shared a bizarre AI-generated video on his Truth Social social media platform showcasing what appears to be his vision of Gaza under his proposed plan.

The footage, which the 78-year-old posted without comment, shows the war-ravaged territory before a caption appears: “Gaza 2025… What’s Next?”

It then goes on to show the area transformed into a Middle Eastern paradise with exotic beaches, Dubai-style skyscrapers, luxury yachts and people partying.

It includes a “Trump Gaza” tower and a gigantic, golden statue of the US president – with miniature versions on sale in a souvenir gift shop.

A child is also shown walking in a street, holding a huge, golden balloon of the president’s head.

The video also features the world leader dancing with a scantily clad belly dancer in a bar – and sunbathing and sipping cocktails by a hotel resort pool with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Elon Musk appears in the footage several times – sitting on a beach eating humous with flatbreads as bearded belly dancers perform on the sand.

The billionaire boss of X, Tesla and SpaceX – who also leads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which has been tasked with cutting government spending – is also shown throwing dollar bills in the air for people.

A song written for the video also plays in the background.

The lyrics go: “Donald’s coming to set you free, bringing the light for all to see, no more tunnels, no more fear: Trump Gaza’s finally here.

“Trump Gaza’s shining bright, golden future, a brand new life.

“Feast and dance the deal is done, Trump Gaza number one.”

Sky News has established that the video was first shared online in early February by accounts with no apparent connection to the White House.

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Mr Trump announced his plan – for when the war between Israel and Hamas ends – earlier this year.

It includes relocating two million Gazans to neighbouring Arab countries and developing the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East“.

He described Gaza as a “demolition site” where “virtually every building is down”.

Laying out his idea of what would happen beyond an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, he proposed: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too.”

He said America would be “responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site”, before it would “get rid of the destroyed buildings”, and “level it out”.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs,” he added.

The White House described the proposal as “out-of-the-box” and “visionary” – but it was condemned as the effective “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from Gaza.

Hamas described the proposals as “ridiculous and absurd” in a statement from one of its officials.

Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, which as fellow Arab nations support the Palestinian cause, also rejected Mr Trump’s plan.

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There was a mixed reaction to the video in the comments section below.

One person wrote: “I don’t think that’s funny or cool. Sorry. Am I missing something??? I hope it’s a joke a bad joke..”

“I hate this. I love our president, but this is horrible,” said another.

One Truth Social user wrote: “Mr President while I appreciate what you do, is not about you. To God be the glory and the honor, for without Him, you couldn’t have accomplished anything. The statue is a symbol of the antichrist, please humble yourself to God. Jesus is king and only Him.”

“You’re doing great Mr President. But don’t let it get to your head. God put you in that position for His Glory, not yours,” said another.

“Can we transform our US cities to look like this 2025 vision first? Our cities are dumps with ugly buildings and homeless people,” wrote one user.

“Everything looks good, just stay away from these guys,” said another, reposting a screengrab of the bearded belly dancers.

The image of Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi being released from Gaza a little over two weeks ago, looking gaunt and weak, shocked and angered Israel and leaders around the world.

His brother Sharon, who fought for months to secure his release, has told Sky News that Eli was tortured by Hamas and barely saw daylight but is slowly recovering his strength after almost sixteen months in Gaza.

“Since day one, Eli was held in extremely difficult conditions, dozens of metres beneath the ground and the treatment he received from his captors was very, very humiliating and very threatening,” said Sharon.

Sharon, being an observant Jew, didn’t watch the live television feed of his brother’s release because it happened over shabbat, but he barely recognised his sibling when they were reunited a few hours later in hospital.

“Eli was starved in an extreme way. He was humiliated, beaten. He didn’t receive minimal conditions for living. The most basic things a person needs for his health – to breathe clean air, to drink clean water.

“He was kept in very difficult conditions in captivity, which included extreme starvation, torture, humiliations, for 16 months in the tunnels of Hamas, I think his appearance says it all.”

Eli was taken from his home in kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October 2023.

“I will be back, I’ll come back to you,” he had promised his British wife Lianne, and teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel as he was being dragged into Gaza.

They were murdered shortly after.

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As Eli was paraded on stage by Hamas before his release, he said he was looking forward to being reunited with them – it was only when he reached Israel that he found out they were dead.

“Only once he was in the safe arms of Israel, Eli received the news, when he was told that our mother and older sister were waiting for him [at the border],” explained Sharon.

The family had been given specialist advice to help them deliver the tragic news to Eli.

“Then he asked, ‘where are Lianne and the girls?’ And when they told him that they hadn’t survived October 7th, it broke his heart.

“We know that from this extremely low point, the lowest point possible, you cannot go down further. We are going to embrace Eli, and we are going to let him process this terrible loss.”

Eli’s release, after 490 days in captivity, was a bittersweet moment for the family.

Yossi Sharabi, Eli and Sharon’s brother was also kidnapped on 7 October 2023 and his body is still in Gaza.

Hamas said Yossi had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, which an IDF investigation said was likely.

Though it couldn’t rule out the possibility he was murdered by his Hamas captors.

The family are campaigning to get him back so he can be buried properly. Any disruption to the ceasefire could threaten that.

“We’ve been in this struggle for 16 months now and I think that everyone deserves, at the very least, for their people to be brought back for a final resting place.

“If not on their feet and alive, then at least, even if that person lost his life, he should be brought back with dignity, he needs to be given the proper respect, to be brought back to his soil, to his land.

“Yossi is sorely missed, it’s a great loss to mankind in general, but especially to his family, his wife and daughters, who had survived Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7th.

“And my commitment, just as I fought for Eli, I’ll fight for Yossi, and for all the hostages, until the very last one, in order to try and process what happened to us and especially to try and return to my private ordinary life, the life I had before October 7th.”

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire is almost complete – four more bodies of hostages are due to be released on Thursday – but there has been little negotiation on the next phase.

Unless an agreement can be reached to temporarily extend phase one, then the war could resume, and with 63 hostages still being held in Gaza.

This is the moment the government finally woke up to the enormity of the threat faced by the UK and the inability of its hollowed-out armed forces to cope.

But make no mistake, today’s decision to increase military spending is not just about increasing the number of troops, warships and fighter jets or even ensuring they can use the latest drones, satellites or artificial intelligence breakthroughs.

This is an emergency that requires the entire nation to take responsibility for – or at least an interest in – the defence of the nation and the importance of being able to deter threats.

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Sir Keir Starmer signalled this fundamental shift in priorities when he told parliament: “We must change our national security posture because a generational challenge requires a generational response that will demand some extremely difficult and painful choices.”

He continued: “And through those choices, as hard as they are, we must also seek unity. A whole society effort that will reach into the lives, the industries, and the homes of the British people.”

Such a proposal is not something new.

The UK has a long history of being prepared for war.

The entirety of the Cold War era was framed around ensuring the UK had enough troops and reservists to fight a sustained conflict, supported by a vast industrial base to produce weapons and a society that was intrinsically resilient, with the ability to sustain itself with emergency food rations, power supplies and an understanding of the need to be prepared to respond in an emergency.

Back then, the threat was war – maybe even nuclear annihilation – with the Soviet Union.

Today the threat is just as stark but also far more complex.

Russia is the immediate danger. But China poses a long-term challenge, while Iran and North Korea are also menacing adversaries.

Most fundamentally though is the change in the UK’s ability to rely squarely on its strongest ally, the United States.

Donald Trump, with his resentment of shouldering the responsibility for European security, has made clear the rest of the transatlantic NATO alliance must take much more of the share of defending themselves.

He has also signalled that he may not even be willing to deploy America’s powerful military to defend every single member state – singling out those who pay far too little on their defences.

He has a point when it comes to Europe freeloading on the might of the United States for too long.

But the suggestion that European allies can no longer automatically rely on their American partner to come to their aid is enough to call into question the value of Article 5 of the NATO Alliance, which states an attack on one is an attack on all.

When it comes to deterring foes, there must be no such uncertainty between friends.

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It is why countries across Europe are being urged by the new head of NATO to rapidly ramp up defence spending and adopt what NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has called a “war mindset”.

The UK, who along with France are the only two NATO powers in Europe to possess nuclear weapons, has a bigger responsibility than most to heed that call.

Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 was not a sufficient enough alarm bell.

Eve Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022 failed to shake the UK and most of the rest of Europe from their slumber.

Instead, it seems the return of Donald Trump to the White House, with all the unpredictability that he brings, is the final shock that has stunned the UK into action.

Of course, defence insiders know that increasing spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 is not soon enough.

But this – coupled with Sir Keir’s language about the need for a “generational response” – is a landmark moment.

The beginning of the correction of a strategic mistake made by Labour and Conservative governments over years to take a “holiday from history” and fail to find credible, capable armed forces and ensure society understands the importance of defence and the ability to deter.