Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo hernia surgery under full sedation following a meeting of his war cabinet this afternoon.
The proceedings come as the war in Gaza continues after Hamas terrorists carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Yariv Levin will take over as prime minister during the 74-year-old’s operation, the prime minister’s office said.
Doctors discovered the hernia on Saturday during a routine check-up and after consultations a decision was made for the prime minister to undergo surgery after completing his daily schedule, his office said.
Netanyahu previously underwent hernia surgery in 2013 and had a pacemaker inserted last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo hernia surgery on Sunday, his office said, noting that he will undergo full anesthesia.
Doctors discovered the hernia on Saturday during a routine checkup. She previously underwent hernia surgery in 2013.
It comes as an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp at a hospital complex in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding 15 others.
The attack hit one of several tents in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have taken refuge for months after fleeing their homes elsewhere in the war-ravaged territory. war.
Journalists worked from nearby tents and an Associated Press journalist witnessed the strike and its aftermath.
The Israeli military said it attacked a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group and claimed that the hospital’s operations were not affected.
Tens of thousands of people have sought refuge in Gaza hospitals since the start of the war, considering them relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, and troops have raided several hospitals.
Israeli troops have been attacking Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for almost two weeks and say they have fought heavy fighting with militants in and around the medical complex. The army says it has killed dozens of fighters, including senior Hamas officials.
Palestinian families who fled the area, including many who had already been displaced earlier in the war, say Israeli soldiers ordered them to march south after days of intense fighting.
Only a third of Gaza’s hospitals are even partially functioning, even though Israeli attacks kill and wound dozens of people every day.
Doctors say they are often forced to treat patients on hospital floors because all the beds are occupied and to operate without anesthesia or other crucial medical supplies.
Injured Palestinian men lie on the floor of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, following the Israeli bombardment on March 31.
A Palestinian boy inspects his family home destroyed after an Israeli airstrike, in the Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 31.
An international team of doctors who had recently visited Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where Sunday’s attack occurred, said they were horrified by the horrific impact of the war on Palestinian children.
The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed across the border on October 7 and rampaged through southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and dragging about 250 hostages back to Gaza. More than 100 captives were freed last year in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel responded to the attack with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, which has driven around 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents from their homes.
The United Nations and its partners have warned that famine could hit the devastated and largely isolated northern Gaza as early as this month.
Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow much more aid by road. The UN’s top court ordered Israel to open more land crossings and take other measures to address the crisis.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have died since the start of the war, including 77 whose bodies were taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours.
An injured Palestinian lies on a stretcher in a hallway at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, following the Israeli bombardment on March 31.
View of a house destroyed after an Israeli airstrike, in the Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 31.
Humanitarian aid falls through the sky towards the Gaza Strip after being dropped from a plane on March 31
The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but has said women and children account for about two-thirds of the dead.
Israel says more than a third of those killed are militants, although it has provided no evidence to support that claim, and blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to negotiate another ceasefire and the release of hostages since January. Hamas demands that any such agreement lead to the end of the war and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces.
Netanyahu has rejected those demands and says Israel will continue fighting until it has destroyed Hamas’s military and governance capabilities.
But he is under increasing pressure to reach a deal from the hostages’ families, some of whom have joined mass demonstrations calling for early elections to replace him.
Ceasefire talks resumed in Cairo on Sunday, but there is little expectation of any progress.