President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Middle East envoy recently visited Israel and Qatar for high-level talks on landing a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Steve Witkoff, who was tapped by Trump to serve as his special envoy to the region, met separately in recent weeks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.