Top Trump administration officials attempted today to soften crucial elements of President Trump’s proposal that the U.S. should take over Gaza and drive out the Palestinian population there. The plan, which the president laid out last night, was sharply criticized by allies and adversaries alike.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio twice suggested today that Trump was proposing only to clear out and rebuild Gaza, not to take it over. The president’s envoy to the Middle East said at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that Trump “doesn’t want to put any U.S. troops on the ground, and he doesn’t want to spend any U.S. dollars at all” on Gaza, according to a senator.

Those comments were a notable departure from the plans that Trump detailed last night at a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. The president said that he intended to “take over” Gaza, using American troops if necessary, and that he would turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” He also described the Palestinian relocation as permanent.

Trump’s Gaza plans were met with swift opposition around the world. Leaders of Egypt and Jordan, where the president said Palestinians should be moved, dismissed the plan. So did representatives of France and Russia. Gazans expressed condemnation and confusion. Experts called Trump’s proposal a breach of international law.

For some experts, the idea felt so unlikely that they believed it to be just an opening bid in a new round of negotiations over Gaza’s future.