cut fills area with white not transparency

[Sunny]

Hi,
I'm a beginner GIMP user - I use Linux Mint, GIMP 2.10.20

I opened a PNG image in Gimp. Then I used the rectangle selection tool to select an area I wanted to cut out. I cut it (Ctrl-X) and I tried  clicking CUT in the menu. Instead of having the area that was cut be transparent, GIMP fills it with white. 
How can I have it be transparent? like a hole

Thanks in advance

Sunny

[GlasBeard]

Have you made sure you don’t have a background layer that’s white? Or make sure your image layer has an alpha channel applied.

[rich2005]

Quote:...Instead of having the area that was cut be transparent, GIMP fills it with white.
How can I have it be transparent? like a hole...

Best guess: The image does not have an alpha channel

Use, Layer -> Transparency -> Add Alpha Channel If the is 'greyed-out' then the image already has one.

In Gimp transparency is represented (usually) by a checker pattern (although it can be set to other formats including white)