BICOM

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was discharged from hospital yesterday, after a nine-day stay to treat a lung infection.

Abbas was admitted to the Istishari Arab Hospital near Ramallah in the West Bank on 20 May with complications following an ear operation, including a high fever. Officials have since confirmed he was being treated for pneumonia.

After leaving the hospital, Abbas remarked on his “good health” and said he would “return to work tomorrow”.

Abbas’s hospitalisation had fuelled speculation over his health, amid growing concern that the PA has no succession plan in place.

Violent confrontations broke out in the Al Amari refugee camp yesterday, when the Israeli army attempted to arrest a Palestinian man suspected of killing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier last Thursday.

According to Palestinian media reports, five Palestinians were injured and seven arrested in the incident. Residents threw Molotov cocktails and the IDF responded with riot dispersal measures.

Staff Sergeant Ronen Lubarsky from Rechovot was critically injured when a Palestinian man threw a large marble slab from the third floor of a building on Thursday night. He was taken into intensive care but died two days later.