Israel’s Netanyahu admitted to hospital, his office says

Netanyahu, 73, undergoing medical assessments at Sheba Medical Center and is in stable condition, his office says.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to hospital after feeling dizzy but is in good condition, his office said, adding that it appeared he was suffering from dehydration.

“The prime minister arrived at the Sheba Medical Center a short while ago,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

“He is in good condition and undergoing medical evaluations,” the statement said.

In a joint statement with the hospital, his office said Netanyahu had visited the Sea of Galilee, a popular vacation spot in northern Israel, on Friday. The country is in the midst of a summer heatwave, with temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s Fahrenheit).

According to the statement, Netanyahu began to feel “mild dizziness” on Saturday and his doctor instructed him to go to the Sheba Medical Center, near the city of Tel Aviv. The hospital is well over half an hour away from Netanyahu’s seaside residence in the coastal town of Caesarea.

“Preliminary tests came out normal and nothing abnormal was found,” the statement said. “The initial assessment is dehydration.”

It said that doctors had recommended he remain in hospital for further testing.

Reporting from outside Sheba Medical Center, Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom said Netanyahu’s personal physician has been quoted in Israeli media outlets as saying that the prime minister was doing well.

“What’s been reported in the Israeli media outlets is that the prime minister had reportedly been experiencing chest pains earlier in the day, that he wanted to go to the hospital for an evaluation, and that his own convoy brought him here,” Jamjoom said.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid issued a statement wishing Netanyahu a “full recovery and good health”.

“Feel better,” Lapid said on Twitter.

Netanyahu, 73, is said to be in generally good health, though he was briefly admitted to hospital last October after feeling unwell during prayers on Yom Kippur, a day when observant Jews fast.

He was also admitted to hospital last January for a colonoscopy.

Netanyahu has served as prime minister of Israel intermittently for more than 14 years.

The conservative leader is in the eye of the storm over his plan to overhaul the judiciary. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in weekly protests against the plan, which opponents say would derail a system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies.