PM Netanyahu was taken to a Jerusalem hospital following pains & will go through operation due to umbilical hernia.

PM’s Office: If general anesthesia is required, then Defense Minister Ya’alon will be appointed acting Prime Minister

By Attila Somfalvi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to undergo surgery Saturday night in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem due to an umbilical hernia.

Netanyahu was hospitalized after feeling pains, and was examined by his personal doctor, Dr. Tzvika Berkovitch, and by an expert surgeon.

The Prime Minister Office stated that the surgery is to begin with regional anesthesia and that if general anesthesia is required, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon will be appointed acting prime minister.

The surgery is scheduled to be performed at 2 am and to last between 30 minutes and an hour. The prime minister is expected to be discharged Sunday afternoon.

“We don’t want the prime minister to suffer any pain in surgery, but if he does suffer any discomfort we may place him under general anesthesia,” Hadassah Medical Center’s Director General, Dr. Yuval Weiss. Weiss told Ynet.

Dr. Weiss added that the procedure was simple.

Netanyahu is scheduled to convene cabinet ministers on Sunday to finalize the first stage of a release of Palestinian security prisoners designed to foster peace talks revived last month by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that while Sunday’s routine cabinet session would be postponed, a ministerial committee vetting the prisoner amnesty would still meet, chaired by Ya’alon.

That would likely pave the way for a second round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

Reuters contributed to this report.

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4416042,00.html