The White House has appeared to backtrack on Donald Trump’s assertion that Palestinians should be permanently resettled from Gaza – as a former Israeli PM told Sky News he was “deeply doubtful” about the plan.

On Tuesday, during a visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Trump said: “If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”

He drew global condemnation for his comments, which included: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it.”

When questioned, Mr Trump said he did envision a “long-term ownership position” and described Gaza’s future as “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

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But speaking on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to contradict Mr Trump’s words and claimed he had said it would always be temporary.

“The president has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding of this effort,” she said to reporters.

She continued: “Again, it’s a demolition site right now. It’s not a liveable place for any human being. And I think it’s actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”

Ms Leavitt also added that Mr Trump “has not committed” to sending troops to Gaza – but she did not rule it out.

‘A massive row back’

Sky News US correspondent Mark Stone was at the news conference where Ms Leavitt spoke.

He said: “I think what we heard there, reading between the lines, was a massive row back.

“She said that the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza while the territory is rebuilt would be temporary, and she said the president was ‘very clear’ about that.

“Well he wasn’t very clear about that. He was very clear that it would be permanent. Indeed, he repeated this idea that they would be permanently relocated to ‘somewhere beautiful’, he said on many occasions yesterday.

“And so while she didn’t acknowledge that there was a shift in position between yesterday and today, it was implicit in everything that she said.”

‘Deeply doubtful’

Ex-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak told Sky News he was “deeply doubtful” about the practicality of the plan.

He said: “I cannot judge it, there are many in Israel who are really excited about it but it seems to me deeply doubtful whether it can ever fly.

“It’s probably deliberately or subconsciously used as a leverage upon the Arab leaders to shake them up and to start to think about how they can contribute to avoid the need for America to intervene. I think that’s more probable an explanation for the whole story.”

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It was not clear whether Mr Trump was serious with his proposal or simply taking an extreme position as a bargaining strategy, as he has done in the past.

While Mr Trump’s comments have thrust the politics and future of Gaza into the headlines, on the ground, nearly 16 months of Israeli bombardment has devastated the coastal enclave and killed more than 47,000 people, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.

The offensive followed the 7 October Hamas attacks in 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and about 250 people were taken hostage.

The Olympics has been put on notice – comply with Donald Trump or face his wrath.

If transgender women are not banned from the 2028 Los Angeles Games, they’ll be banned from entering the United States.

And the president delivered a blunt warning from the White House: “Nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it.”

The International Olympic Committee cannot have been surprised.

Trump had been riffing off this inflammatory rhetoric throughout the campaign, complaining transgender women competing in women’s events are cheating and endangering rivals.

This East Room ceremony – surrounded by female athletes – turned the policy pledge into reality through an executive order.

“This is one of the big reasons that we all won,” he said, between meandering into how he could have built a bigger ballroom for the occasion.

How will the IOC cope with Trump in the build up to LA 2028?

That could be determined by their own presidential election outcome in March.

One candidate, Sebastian Coe, is already chiming with Trump, having already excluded anyone assigned male at birth from women’s categories in his role as World Athletics president.

For now this US order only directly impacts education institutions receiving federal funding.

But Trump is putting pressure on the IOC, which leaves eligibility rules to each sport to determine.

“In Los Angeles in 2028 my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes,” Trump said.

“We’re just not going to let it happen and it’s going to end and it’s ending right now.”

How many athletes would this policy have impacted at the Paris 2024 Olympics?

Technically, none.

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There was a trans man fighting who was female at birth. And two non-binary athletes competing in their assigned sex at birth categories. They are not in Trump’s sights.

But two female boxers were targeted, falsely classified by Trump as trans women based on disputed gender eligibility tests.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been told to “make clear to the International Olympic Committee… that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy”.

Trump added: “We want them to change everything to do with the Olympics and this absolutely ridiculous subject.”

Maybe this was the moment the IOC started regretting awarding 2028 to Los Angeles. Trump boasts about winning that Olympic vote during his first term having never anticipated being in power for the Games themselves.

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While protecting women’s sport is the mission, the inclusive, unifying and celebratory messaging promoted by the Olympics is being undercut.

The Department of Homeland Security was ordered “to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes”.

Activists advocating for LGBT+ rights in sport decried the targeting of another marginalised community by the Trump administration.

Athlete Ally said in a statement: “Our hearts break for the trans youth who will no longer be able to know the joy of playing sports as their full and authentic selves.”

But many across the United States are sure to endorse Trump delivering on his “common sense” agenda.

“You’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he said, before signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order into law.

Donald Trump’s announcement that he wants to “develop” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” has been described as “absurd” and “entirely unrealistic”.

During a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Tuesday, Mr Trump proposed that the two million people living in Gaza could be moved to Jordan, Egypt – and beyond.

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While it is not clear how Gaza will be rebuilt when the current conflict between Hamas and Israel ends – it is equally uncertain how the US would come to “own” Gaza, resettle its population, and redevelop the land.

What did Trump say about the Gaza Strip?

Mr Trump 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”.

He envisioned an “economic development”, which he described as the “Riveria of the Middle East” – that would create thousands and thousands of jobs”.

“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 has described the plan as “out-of-the-box” and “visionary”.

What about the population?

Gaza’s two million people would not return to their territory under Mr Trump’s plans.

Instead, he suggested building “various domains” for them to “permanently… live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again”.

This could take the form of “numerous sites” or “one large site”, he added.

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The only locations he mentioned by name were Jordan and Egypt, which he said, despite their leaders consistently refusing to resettle more Palestinian refugees, would “give us the kind of land we need to get this done”.

He described the new sites as a “beautiful area to resettle people, permanently in nice homes, where they can be happy and not shot… and killed… like what’s happening in Gaza”.

He said “neighbouring countries of great wealth” could finance them – without stipulating to what extent this would involve the US.

There were no details on whether the plans change the current US position of a two-state solution for the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Who controls Gaza – and who has occupied it in the past?

Gaza has been under the control of Hamas since 2007 – after it dominated the 2006 elections and subsequent violent clashes with fellow Palestinian group Fatah.

The area made up of Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank has a long and complicated history – with both Israel and Palestinians laying claim to various parts of it.

In 1917, the British took control of what was then known as Palestine from the Ottoman Empire.

Under the Balfour Declaration, they promised to create a Jewish homeland there.

Jewish people then began migrating to the region in large numbers – accelerated by the threat of Nazism in Europe and the Second World War, which created tension with the Palestinian people already living there.

When the United Nations was set up after the war in 1947, it proposed a partition plan – whereby roughly 45% of the land would belong to the Palestinian people and 55% to Jewish people. Jerusalem, which has particular sensitivities because of its religious significance to both sides, was proposed as a separate international territory.

This plan was never actioned – and instead – the state of Israel was declared in 1948.

The Arab-Israeli war that broke out immediately after the declaration saw 750,000 Palestinian people forced from their homes in what was known as the Nakba – or “catastrophe” in English. They were given refugee status by the UN and fled to neighbouring countries.

The Palestinians retained control of two small areas – what we now know as Gaza and the West Bank.

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. They also took control of the Golan Heights, an area belonging to Syria. This saw hundreds of thousands more Palestinians forced from their homes.

During his first presidency, Donald Trump recognised Israel’s control of the Golan Heights.

Different groups have fought for control of Gaza since then – including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

There was hope for a two-state solution – one Israel and one Palestine – when their leaders signed the Oslo Accords committing to peace in the region within five years.

This never materialised, however, and Gaza has become increasingly cut off from outside resources.

The UN runs refugee camps for millions of displaced Palestinians – both inside Gaza and the West Bank – and in the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Before the 2023 war broke out between Israel and Hamas, tensions were high among Palestinian communities as Israel continued to expand settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Trump Gaza plan ‘absurd’ and US has ‘no authority’

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

They, along with Syria and Lebanon, are already struggling to support millions of displaced Palestinians.

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

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation reiterated its support for a two-state solution.

Sky News Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said the plans have left politicians and diplomats across the region “speechless”.

“It’s entirely unrealistic for so many reasons,” he says.

Forcing Palestinians from Gaza would breach their right under international law to self-determination – and would constitute ethnic cleansing, he adds.

It would also, according to the chair of the UK’s Defence Select Committee, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, require “a minimum of 50,000” US troops in the region for several years.

This would prove a “massive logistical challenge”, as US military resources in other parts of the world have to be redirected there.

It is also out of step with Mr Trump’s previous indications he wants to scale back US involvement in the Middle East – and adopt a more protectionist foreign policy.

Many Gazans have endured horrendous living conditions in the hope Gaza will be rebuilt as part of an independent Palestinian state.

As such, most would not want to leave, Bunkall says, adding: “Ask any Gazan and they will tell you it is their home, however hellish.”

The international community has been involved in the rebuilding of war-torn countries throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In this sense, the US could be mandated as a “reconstruction power” in Gaza.

However, in cases such as post-Second World War Germany or Japan – allies handed back the territory after rebuilding – not resettled their residents elsewhere.