The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, has been rushed to hospital after suffering chest pains.
Netanyahu was assessed to be in ‘good condition’ as he underwent a medical evaluation, his office said today. Initial tests determined the Israeli leader was suffering from dehydration.
A statement from his office said that he had spent Friday enjoying Israel’s Sea of Galilee at a time of high summer temperatures. It said Netanyahu felt dizzy and his doctor instructed him to go to Sheba Hospital, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu, at 73 the country’s longest-serving leader, had reportedly also complained of chest pain, was fully conscious en route to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer town, and walked into the emergency room, Israel’s Channel 12 TV said.
He was not undergoing sedation and no procedures were underway to declare him incapacitated, it added.
Israel is currently in the midst of a heat wave, with temperatures in the mid-30s degrees Celsius (mid-90s in Fahrenheit).
Netanyahu, 73, is Israel’s longest serving leader. He has served multiple terms stretching over 15 years in office.
His current far-right government, a collection of religious and ultra-nationalist parties, took office last December.
It was not immediately clear who might replace him in the event of an emergency succession.
First elected to top office in 1996 at the head of the conservative Likud party, Netanyahu has been both dynamic and polarising, leading a free-market revolution in Israel while distrustful of internationally-backed peacemaking with the Palestinians and talks to cap Iran’s nuclear programme.
He is in the grip of a domestic furore over his plan to overhaul the judiciary, which has set off unprecedented protests by Israelis worried for the future independence of the courts.
Netanyahu is himself no stranger to the docks, after being indicted in three corruption cases. He denies wrongdoing and has cast the trial as a politicised witch-hunt.
