Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing well following an emergency heart operation early Sunday local time in which he received a pacemaker, according to his doctors.
Dr. Eyal Nof, the head of invasive electrophysiology service at the Sheba Medical Center, said Netanyahu received treatment after a monitoring device he had fitted a week ago issued an alarm about a transient heart block.
“He was admitted urgently to Sheba Medical Center,” Nof said in a video alongside professor Roy Beinart, senior physician and director at the Davidai Arrhythmia Center at Sheba’s Heart Institute. “During the night we implanted a pacemaker. All went well. The prime minister is feeling very well this morning.”
A joint statement from Netanyahu’s office and the medical center said the prime minister “feels fine” and will be discharged late Sunday after some time recovering at the hospital, Fox News reports. It also said that a Cabinet meeting expected for Sunday had been postponed until Monday morning.
A pacemaker is a device implanted under the skin near the collarbone to prevent the heart from beating too slowly, according to Mayo Clinic. Such a device sends electrical signals to chambers of the heart to regulate heart rhythm.
Netanyahu, 73, was hospitalized last weekend after he reportedly lost consciousness. As noted by The Times of Israel, the Sheba Medical Center said a diagnosis indicated Netanyahu suffered from a bout of dehydration and doctors implanted a heart monitor as a precautionary measure. He was released from the hospital a day later.
The prime minister posted a video message to Twitter offering an update on his health prior to his second hospitalization this weekend.
“I want to update you on what’s going to happen,” Netanyahu said in the video. “Last week they gave me a monitoring device. The device beeped and said I need a pacemaker, and I need to do that already tonight. I feel great, but I listen to my doctors.”
“The doctors tell me that I will be free tomorrow afternoon already,” he added. “I will be discharged from the hospital ready to arrive at the Knesset for the vote.”
עדכון ממני אליכם >> pic.twitter.com/Z6RH1ba4ez
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 22, 2023
The vote referenced by Netanyahu regards his proposed judicial reforms in the country, which would give Israeli parliament a greater role in the selection of judges and the ability to override decisions by the Supreme Court overturning laws, The Daily Wire previously reported.
In the spring, Netanyahu had delayed plans for a vote after the plan prompted strikes and protests in the country. The vote is now expected to take place on Monday.