Trump's press secretary says expenditure, which would amount to over 80% of total USAID spending worldwide on contraceptives in 2023, was uncovered by budget office and Elon Musk-led DOGE

US President Donald Trump’s proposal to “clean out” the Gaza Strip by moving more than a million Palestinians to neighboring countries has drawn sharp criticism, with opponents condemning it as ethnic cleansing and warning of regional chaos.

US aid experts on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's claim that the United States had spent $50 million to fund condoms for the war-battered Gaza Strip, which the president has sought to make a poster child for wasteful spending.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Biden administration had earmarked $50 million for a condom distribution programme in the Gaza Strip. Her comments came as she was justifying Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on all foreign aid.

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives on Thursday, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month.

The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have access to the territory.

Ali Al-Ansari, media attache to the Qatari Embassy to the United States, told Newsweek his nation "appreciates the important role and positive impact of President Trump and his administration, particularly the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff, in finalizing the agreement."

Jordan's air force launched on Tuesday the biggest air bridge so far to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza under a U.S.-sponsored deal to step up deliveries following a ceasefire, officials said.

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives on Thursday, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month.

The contractors have been enlisted to do weapons checks on vehicles carrying displaced Palestinians back to their homes in the north under the terms of the new cease-fire.

President Trump has floated the idea of relocating Gazans to other Muslim countries so that reconstruction can get underway.