U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and Arab states in mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first trip to the Middle East after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza.

Speaking of the two Israeli neighbors, Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East peace negotiator, said on CNN: “It’s not a real estate deal for them, it’s not even a humanitarian issue for them. It’s an existential issue.”

Israel’s defense minister says he has instructed the army to prepare plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip in line with President Donald Trump’s proposal for the war-ravaged territory.

Top Trump administration officials on Wednesday walked back elements of President Trump’s proposal to “take over” Gaza and drive out the Palestinian population, insisting that he had not committed to using U.S. troops to clear the territory and that any relocation of Palestinians would be temporary.

Most Gaza residents are the descendants of Palestinian refugees driven to the enclave in a 1948 war. They harbor a deep fear of being uprooted again, and President Trump's remarks struck a raw nerve.

Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza. That's despite widespread international rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to empty the territory of its population.