PLO's Saeb Erekat Hospitalized for Coronavirus in Tel Aviv Hospital

On Sunday, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, was transferred to an Israeli hospital in Tel Aviv for treatment of a worsening coronavirus infection.

In a statement, the PLO said that Erekat's health condition requires medical attention in a hospital due to the chronic health problems he faces in the respiratory system.

It said he would be treated at a hospital in Tel Aviv, but did not identify the facility.

A member of Fatah, the most powerful faction within the PLO, Erekat has been one of the most high-profile faces of the Palestinian leadership for decades, especially to international audiences.

Erekat, 65, has been receiving medical care at home since disclosing on October 8 that he had contracted the virus.

The former Palestinian chief negotiator and architect of the Oslo Accords (1993-95) with Israel suffered a heart attack in 2012 and in 2017 received a lung transplant.

There is heightened concern over Erekat’s vulnerability because he underwent a lung transplant in the United States in 2017. Witnesses said Erekat was on a stretcher when he was placed inside an Israeli ambulance outside his home in Jericho.