Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo hernia surgery, his office says

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo surgery on Sunday (Monday AEDT) for a hernia, his office said, at a time when he is waging a war against Hamas in Gaza, and less than a year after he was fitted with a pacemaker.

“On Saturday night, during a routine checkup for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a hernia was found,” his office said in a statement, adding that the 74-year-old leader will be under general anaesthetic during his surgery later on Sunday.

Signalling his condition was not serious, Netanyahu’s office announced he would hold a news conference at 1630 GMT, before the procedure.

“I assure you that I will get through this treatment successfully and return to action very quickly,” Netanyahu told reporters at the conference.

Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker last July, while Israel was ensnared in its worst domestic crisis in decades, with widespread protests against his hard-right government’s judicial overhaul plan.

Those protests stopped on October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group launched its shock attack on southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostage back to Gaza.

It was Israel’s deadliest single day and the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Israel then launched an air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza, with the declared aim of ending Hamas’ rule there and dismantling its military capabilities.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war and Israel has faced intense and growing international pressure over the death toll and the grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza.