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27-04-2026
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has undergone successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, after a small tumor was discovered during a routine checkup.
The information was published on Friday in Netanyahu’s annual medical report, with the Israeli leader posting on social media to explain that doctors discovered and treated the tumor during a medical checkup. The information was not announced at the time.
“I requested to delay its publication by two months so that it would not be released at the height of the war” against Iran, the 76-year-old Israeli leader said, to prevent “more false propaganda against Israel”.
The Israeli prime minister said he underwent surgery for an enlarged benign prostate in 2024 and has since been under routine medical monitoring. It was during the most recent checkup that the tumor was discovered.
According to the medical report, which otherwise said the prime minister was in good health, Netanyahu was treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer. Neither the medical report nor Netanyahu said when the treatment occurred.
Aharon Popovtser, the director of Hadassah Hospital’s oncology unit, said Netanyahu was diagnosed at an early stage, noting that prostate cancer is common among men his age.
“We can say based on the findings of these tests that the disease has disappeared,” he said, referring to imaging and blood work.
Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, was the subject of speculation about his health during the early weeks of the US-Israel attacks on Iran, as fake, AI-generated images circulated suggesting he had died, including on Iranian state media.
The Israeli leader recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe in March to refute the claims.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks after fresh talks between the countries’ envoys in Washington.
Announcing the extension on Truth Social, the US president said the meeting “went very well”, adding the US would be working with Lebanon “to help it protect itself from Hezbollah”.
The ceasefire, announced after a meeting in Washington last week, was set to expire on Sunday. The aim is to end more than seven weeks of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
In the Oval Office, Trump said both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would visit the White House “in the coming weeks”.
“They do have Hezbollah to think about,” he said. “We are going to be working with Lebanon to get things straightened out in that country.
“I think it will be a wonderful thing to get this worked out simultaneously with what we are doing in Iran.”
Speaking in the Oval Office with Trump, Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter praised Trump for his role in the talks.
Leiter said Israel and Lebanon were united in their aim to rid Lebanon of “this malign influence called Hezbollah”.
On Wednesday, Lebanon accused Israel of war crimes after Israeli air strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon. The IDF denied that it targeted journalists. (Int’l News Desk)
