GUATEMALA CITY — President Donald Trump’s top diplomat and his main spokesperson on Wednesday walked back the idea that he wants the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, after American allies and even Republican lawmakers rebuffed his suggestion that the U.S. take of the territory.

Trump on Tuesday had called for resettling Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and left open the door to deploying American troops there as part of a massive rebuilding operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he only sought to move the roughly 1.8 million Gazans temporarily to allow for reconstruction.

Even that proposal has drawn criticism from Palestinians, who are worried they may never be allowed back in if they flee, and from the Arab nations that Trump has called on to take them in.

Rubio, on his first foreign trip as secretary of state, described Trump’s proposal as a offer to help with debris removal and reconstruction of the enclave following 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Rubio said in a news conference in Guatemala City.

Leavitt said in a briefing with reporters in Washington that Gaza is and referenced footage of the devastation.

she said, calling it currently and saying it would be

Their comments contradicted Trump, who said Tuesday night, He added that he envisioned U.S. ownership of a redevelopment of the territory, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea.

In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military is for rebuilding Gaza.

Hegseth said.

Egypt, Jordan and other U.S. allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and its allies for a two-state solution.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a sharply worded reaction to Trump, noting its long call for an independent Palestinian state was a Saudi Arabia has been in negotiations with the U.S. over a deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a security pact and other terms.

the Saudi statement said.

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican and a Trump ally, called it

the South Carolina lawmaker told reporters Wednesday.

Rubio insisted that Trump’s position

Rubio said.

Still, the White House said Trump was ruling out sending U.S. dollars to aid in the reconstruction of Gaza.

But Leavitt, like Trump, refused to rule out sending American troops into Gaza, saying of Trump,

The Palestinians, Arab nations and others have rejected even a temporary relocation from Gaza, which would run counter to decades of U.S. policy calling for the creation of a Palestinian state with no further displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

The proposals also appear to trash months of negotiations by the Biden administration to draft a plan for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. President Joe Biden had tried to lock in that plan — which calls for joint governance of the territory by the Palestinian Authority under U.N. stewardship and a multi-national peacekeeping force — before leaving office by inviting Trump’s main Mideast envoy into final talks over a Gaza ceasefire.