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13th October 2025
04:12pm BST
Donald Trump has provided an update on plans previously revealed for what he dubbed the Gaza riviera.
With Israel and Hamas coming to a ceasefire agreement and exchanging hostages and prisoners, plans are now in place to bring aid into Gaza.
Travelling to Israel on Sunday, US president Donald Trump spoke to reporters on Air Force One about the comments he once made about the "Riviera of the Middle East" which were accompanied by a surreal AI video of what this could look like.
However, Trump appeared to back track on these previous claims as he said: “I don’t know about the Riviera for a while, because you take a look at what you have. You have to get people taken care of first.”
He acknowledged that a lot of work would be needed, adding: “It’s blasted. This is like a demolition site.”
In his initial remarks made in February, Trump said that thousands of Gazans would be relocated in order to reconstruct destroyed neighbourhoods and promote tourism.
He drew up the plans alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and posted a questionable AI-generated video showing what the Gaza Riviera could look like, with Netanyahu also appearing in the video on a sun lounger.
The plan unsurprisingly received much backlash from many groups.
Since then, Trump has proposed a slightly softer reconstruction of Gaza with a "Board of Peace" chaired by him with other international representatives involved to help rebuild the strip.
Trump said on Sunday that reconstruction would start "essentially immediately".
He added that he would one day like to visit Gaza, saying: “I’d like to put my feet on it at least.”
With hostages and prisoners being exchanged this morning, it appears that peace is holding and the reconstruction of Gaza could be close, although under what form is still unknown.
