The US government said on Saturday it was "critical" that a ceasefire in Gaza hold, after Hamas militants released four Israeli female soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.

"It is critical that the ceasefire holds and that all hostages held by Hamas are released and returned safely to their families," the US State Department said in a statement on Saturday.

Statements from the State Department and the White House welcomed the release of the Israeli hostages and did not mention the Palestinian prisoners released by Israel.

"The United States celebrates the release of the four Israeli hostages who had been held captive for 477 days," the State Department added.

The week-long ceasefire in Gaza began last weekend ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump on December 20. Both Republican Trump and former Democratic President Joe Biden have been strong supporters of Israel.

Trump praised his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for brokering a ceasefire after months of talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. Before his inauguration, Trump warned there would be "hell to pay" if hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were not released.

Hamas fighters and others captured about 250 Israelis during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, including 311 soldiers in active service, according to Israeli statistics.

The Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. It has also displaced nearly the entire population of Gaza and caused a hunger crisis.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip - potentially transferring enough residents to "cleanse" the war-torn territory and create a virtual clean slate.

The proposal has so far been a red line for Arab states, particularly Jordan and Egypt, which view the mass exodus of Palestinians to their countries as a potential existential threat. They have pointed to Israel’s refusal to publicly commit to allowing any Palestinians who leave the Strip to return later, and they do not want to be seen as complicit in the Palestinians’ exile.

The fear of not being able to return has also deterred many Palestinians from leaving, and more than 100,000 Gazans have entered Egypt since October 7, 2023, although they were forced to pay exorbitant fees to do so and received largely no assistance upon arrival, as Cairo refuses to recognize them as refugees.

The Biden administration also considered the idea of temporarily transferring some residents early in the war, seeking to remove Palestinians, but Jordan and Egypt were so adamant in their opposition that it quickly abandoned the idea.

But Trump, known for his frequent rejection of traditional foreign policy norms, sought to revive the idea of a mass exodus of Palestinians to neighboring countries on Saturday as his new administration tries to maintain a nascent ceasefire in Gaza and plan for the reconstruction of the territory, with more than 2 million people remaining in an area that has been devastatingly devastated in the past 15 months of war.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump described Gaza as a “demolition site” after the Israel-Hamas war. He said he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about the issue and expected to speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday.

The White House statement on the call with the Jordanian king was light on details, saying the two leaders "discussed the importance of regional peace, security and stability."

Trump elaborated on some of the details on Air Force One, saying he told Abdullah, “I would like you to take over more because I look at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I would like people to take over.”