Trump's envoy Witkoff visits Saudi Arabia Tuesday to meet with bin Salman

Axios quoted an American official as saying that US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while he will visit Tel Aviv on Wednesday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump's envoy announced on Sunday that he will visit Israel to discuss implementing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and exchanging the release of Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, as well as starting talks on the second phase of the agreement.

"The implementation of the agreement was important, especially the first step, but without proper implementation we will not be able to put it on the right track, there will be a sudden explosion," Witkoff said in a speech at a synagogue in New York.

Earlier, the private Hebrew Channel 13 quoted unnamed Israeli sources as saying that Witkov was arriving in Tel Aviv to discuss the crisis related to the first stage of the prisoner exchange deal.

Israeli sources confirmed that Witkov will discuss with Israeli officials ensuring the preservation of the ceasefire agreement.

On Saturday, the private Hebrew Channel 12 said that Tel Aviv resorted to involving the United States to pressure the concerned parties, as it sent a message to Witkov urging mediators to ensure the release of the detainee, Arbel Yehud, in the coming few days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to the northern part of the Strip conditional on the release of the detainee, Arbel Yehud, according to a statement issued by his office on Saturday.

The main dispute lies in the classification of the detainee. While the Palestinian factions insist that she is "military," Israel insists that she is "civilian," according to Hebrew media.

This evening, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, published a video message to Erbil Yehud, in which it called on Netanyahu and Trump to “make every effort to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, so that all detainees can return safely,” confirming that she is with the Al-Quds Brigades and that she is fine, after detailing her date of birth, her ID number, her military identification number, and the period she served in the Israeli occupation army.

Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in Washington next week to meet with Trump, becoming the first political leader in the world to meet the newly returned president.

According to what was reported by the Walla website, citing three American and Israeli sources, if the meeting actually takes place early next month, Netanyahu will be the first foreign official invited to visit the White House after the inauguration of the new administration. The meeting comes against the backdrop of the prisoner exchange deal and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli and American officials told the website that the current plan is for Netanyahu to arrive in Washington on February 3 and leave two days later, and Netanyahu and Trump's advisers "are still trying to determine the exact date for the meeting between the two sides."

(New Arab)