Benjamin Netanyahu has successful prostate surgery with 'no fear' of cancer - despite social media reports

Benjamin Netanyahu had his prostate removed in a successful surgical operation on Sunday (29 December) and despite what social media users are saying, the Israeli prime minister does not have prostate cancer.

The 75-year-old was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection on Wednesday (25 December) which was treated with antibiotics but the benign enlargement of his prostate which was the cause of such an infection required an operation under anaesthesia.

Netanyahu made two hospital visits in July 2023, with one caused by dehydration and the other being to receive a pacemaker, and the latest operation comes amid the ongoing war in Gaza as well as his long-running corruption trial.

The Israeli PM took to the stand to answer to charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes – all their own individual cases and which he denies – earlier this month.

As for the operation on Netanyahu’s prostate, the Associated Press quotes Dr Ofer Gofrit of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, who said “there was no fear” of cancer of malignancy and that “we only hope for the best”.

Meanwhile The Times of Israelreports the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday evening: “The surgery ended successfully without complications. The prime minister has woken up, is in good condition and is completely conscious.”

It also said Netanyahu has been taken to a fortified underground unit to recover.

With the Israeli premier receiving international condemnation for his actions in Gaza – which has seen the International Criminal Court issue a warrant for his arrest, and which Amnesty International concluded earlier this month constitutes a genocide – many social media users have entertained the false notion that Netanyahu is suffering from prostate cancer.

One account imagined the news that the PM was in a “critical condition” due to a “fatal error” by one of his surgeons, while another called on their followers to “pray for cancer”.

A third tweeted: “As Benjamin Netanyahu undergoes surgery on his prostate this afternoon, I wish for him everything he has wished for the people of Palestine.”

A day before Netanyahu’s operation, Palestinian medical officials said Israel’s army has detained the director of one of northern Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, while on the day itself, Israeli forces struck Gaza City’s Al-Wafa hospital which the Palestinian civil defence said killed seven people.

On Monday (30 December), the chief of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a ceasefire and an end to attacks on hospitals.

“The health system is under severe threat. We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to healthcare. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire,” he said.

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