DELETED PAGES SHOWING UP ON XML SITEMAP

Are you using the latest version of Yoast SEO, 7.0.3? If so, please go to SEO → General → Features → XML Sitemaps and turn it Off, Save changes, then back on again.

This should clear the transients and force the XML Sitemap to update. Additionally, if you are using any caching plugins (or server cache), please make sure to flush the caches.

Should the issue persist, please include links to your sitemap and one of the deleted URLs that are still present.

Thank you for your response. I did all of those things before asking for help and nothing has changed with my sitemap. I am using the current version of yoast and W3 Total Cache plugin. Here is a link to my sitemap:
https://www.viedesignlife.com/sitemap_index.xml
And here are all of the deleted demo items:
https://www.viedesignlife.com/thegem_pf_item-sitemap.xml
https://www.viedesignlife.com/thegem_news-sitemap.xml
https://www.viedesignlife.com/thegem_news_sets-sitemap.xml
Thank you so much for your help!

Hello,

If you check under SEO > Search Appearance, is there no option to set these to not show in the search results so that it will also be excluded in the XML Sitemap Index?

This KB article may also be of help — https://kb.yoast.com/kb/sitemap-shows-excluded-posts-pages/

Theme support was able to help me find and permanently delete these pages and solve the issue. Thank you so much for you help!