A Jerusalem court hearing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has postponed hearings set for next week as Netanyahu undergoes a prostate operation on Sunday.
According to NAN, the hearings will now be held on January 6 and subsequent days.
Netanyahu is charged with fraud, embezzlement, and bribery.
He is also accused of granting privileges to the telecom giant Bezeq while he was communications minister.
At an initial hearing on December 10, he dismissed the charges as “absurd.”
This is the first time an incumbent prime minister has faced prosecution in Israel.
The judicial case might continue for several years. Netanyahu is expected to testify three times per week for approximately two months.
He recently excused his absence by visiting troops on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
His office stated on Saturday that he would have surgery for an enlarged prostate.
According to AFP, Netanyahu is scheduled to have prostate surgery on Sunday after being diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.
The procedure comes while Israel is at war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, more than 14 months after Palestinian militants launched an unprecedented offensive on Israel on October 7, last year.
He was tested at Hadassah Hospital on Wednesday and “diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
“As a result, the prime minister will undergo prostate removal surgery tomorrow,” it said.