Netanyahu Released From Hospital After Undergoing Tests

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was discharged from the hospital Sunday in what medical officials described as “excellent condition,” after an overnight stay involving a series of tests and being fitted with an implanted heart monitor.

Netanyahu, 73, had been admitted Saturday to the Sheba Medical Center, a leading hospital near Tel Aviv, after feeling mild dizziness. The medical staff concluded that he was dehydrated.

On Sunday morning, he underwent heart tests, which his office and hospital officials said had all come back clear.

“His heart is completely normal, without any findings,” Amit Segev, director of the hospital’s cardiology unit, said in a statement shortly before Netanyahu’s release.

Segev said that “a series of comprehensive and routine examinations” were performed while Netanyahu was fully conscious and included an electrical test of the heart. No heart arrhythmia was found, Segev said.

He added that Netanyahu had been fitted with a subcutaneous monitor, “as is customary, to allow the close medical professional team of the prime minister to continue regular monitoring.”

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, released a video Saturday evening from the hospital looking cheerful and stating that he was “feeling very well,” seeking to allay fears about his well-being amid initial, conflicting reports about his condition.

He said he had spent Friday in the sun at the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, where temperatures had reached 100 degrees, “with no hat, without water — not a good idea.” The day out had included a boat ride on the lake in the intense afternoon heat.

“Thank heavens, I’m feeling very well,” Netanyahu added. “I have just one request of you: We’re undergoing a heat wave in this country. So I ask of you: Spend less time in the sun, drink more water, and may we all have a good week.”

It was later announced that he would spend the night in the hospital and undergo additional routine tests, and that the regular weekly Cabinet meeting that had been scheduled for Sunday morning would be postponed until Monday.

Netanyahu was briefly hospitalized in October, after feeling pain in his chest in the weeks before last year’s election. He was filmed jogging the next morning. He was also briefly hospitalized in 2018 after developing a fever.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/world/middleeast/israel-netanyahu-hospital.html">The New York Times</a>.