JERUSALEM, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will visit Israel in March, Israel's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The president is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on March 31 for a four-day visit, according to the ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bolsonaro's close ally, visited Brazil last December, and participated in the inauguration ceremony of the president.

Bolsonaro's visit, coming ahead of Israel's April 9 elections, in which Netanyahu seeks to be re-elected, sparked speculations in Israeli media about whether the trip will be used to announce an embassy move to Jerusalem.

In January, Bolsonaro had confirmed that Brazil will follow the United States and relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, without providing a specific date. Netanyahu considers such relocation as a victory to his foreign policy and an important step in achieving international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The moves are controversial because Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, and later annexed it, claiming it part of its "indivisible capital."

The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and most of the international community view East Jerusalem as an occupied Palestinian territory.