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Top Palestinian official Erekat in Israeli hospital to tackle virus

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Long-time chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, diagnosed with coronavirus, was taken to an Israeli hospital on Sunday after his condition worsened, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and his brother said.

A file photo taken on March 3, 2020 shows Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and chief Palestinian negotiator, talking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. – Saeb Erekat, one of the most prominent Palestinian leaders on the world stage, has been rushed to hospital on October 18 according to local news channels. The Long-time chief Palestinian negotiator had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on October 9. Abbas Momani / AFP

The PLO said in a statement that Erekat was "transferred to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem", updating a previous announcement that he had been taken to a facility in Tel Aviv.

"Following his contraction of Covid-19, and due to the chronic health problems he faces in the respiratory system, Dr Erekat's condition now requires medical attention in a hospital," it said.

"His situation is not good," his brother Saber Erekat told AFP.

The PLO said on October 19 he had tested positive for the virus.

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There have been 42,490 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the West Bank, including 381 deaths. 

Erekat, who lives in the biblical town of Jericho, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, underwent lung-transplant surgery in the United States in 2017.

The 65-year-old has been a key figure in Palestinian politics for decades, often serving as a main interlocutor for foreign envoys and the international media.

He has consistently voiced support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Jerusalem-born Erekat serves as the PLO's secretary-general and remains a stalwart presence in the inner circle of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

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