Palestinian Health Minister Mai el-Kela on Monday evening, October 19, denied information that appeared in a number of Arab media about the death of the second person in the Palestinian leadership Sahib Arikat from coronavirus infection.
“Please respect the feelings of the family of Sahib Arikat. We ask you to adhere to the news from official Palestinian information sources, and we wish Dr. Saib a speedy recovery, ”TASS quotes her.
Rumors about the death of the General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement, were denied by the Arikat family, reports the publication Dunya al-Watan.
Earlier, the satellite TV channel Al-Aqsa reported that Arikat died due to complications after contracting COVID-19. Channel in its post in Twitter refers to the administration of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, where Arikat was taken due to a sharp deterioration in his health the day before.
On Monday, it became known that after a stable night, Arikat’s health deteriorated sharply. Doctors hooked him up to a ventilator and put him into a drug-induced coma. A few hours ago, his daughter reported that Sahib Arikat’s condition remains consistently grave.
The main negotiator with Israel, 65-year-old Saib Arikat, announced his infection on Twitter on October 9. He was treated at home in Jericho and was in self-isolation until a sharp deterioration in health.