Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is not leaving the hospital, his doctor said Sunday, abruptly reversing a previous announcement that the leader would be discharged.
Abbas, 83, was hospitalized last week with a fever, just days after undergoing ear surgery. Palestinian officials said he had pneumonia and was on a respirator, receiving antibiotics intravenously.
Yasser Abu Safiyeh initially said Sunday that Abbas would be discharged, and the media was alerted to the hospital. Then the plan was nixed, with no explanation offered.
Abbas, who is a heavy smoker and overweight, has a long history of health issues, ranging from heart trouble to a bout with prostate cancer a decade ago.
He has no deputy and his latest health scare and sudden hospitalization revived anxiety over a potentially chaotic or even bloody succession battle.
Recently, a cardiologist moved into the presidential compound in Ramallah to monitor the longtime leader after a mysterious hospital visit in the United States, following Abbas’s address to the United Nations Security Council, in which he appeared weak.
Speaking Tuesday to reporters at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki warned against exaggerating Abbas’s health scare.
“It’s obvious that all of us as humans might have certain health setbacks … President Abbas is not really immune from that,” he said. “Of course we were concerned about his health as anyone should be but you know we should not really take it out of proportion when it comes to his health.”
Pictures of Abbas walking around the wards and reading a newspaper were published last week, in an apparent attempt to calm rumors that his condition was worse than officially reported.
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