Jerusalem, 15 October, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suffering from bronchitis and canceled his schedule for the rest of the day, his office said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Netanyahu’s lawyers cited his health while requesting a reduction in the number of hours of his court testimony.
“Pursuant to the recommendation of his personal physician, Dr. [Zvi] Berkowitz, the Prime Minister has canceled his schedule for the rest of the day and is resting at home,” the prime minister’s office said.
Netanyahu was criticized for visiting recuperating Israeli hostages the previous night. He and wife Sara visited went to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva to meet the returned hostages Avinatan Or, Alon Ohel, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Evyatar David and Eitan Mor.
“If Netanyahu has a cold that refuses to subside, as he claimed today in court, why did he visit yesterday survivors of captivity with weakened immune systems and put them at risk?” Prof. Hagai Levine, a doctor for the Hostage Families Forum, tweeted.
Acute bronchitis is usually caused by viruses and can spread from person to person through droplets from coughing, sneezing, or close contact. Chronic bronchitis, which is linked to smoking or long-term lung irritation, is not contagious.
The 75-year-old Prime Minister has been in the news for health issues several times in recent months.
In July, Netanyahu was diagnosed with intestinal inflammation caused by spoiled food and received intravenous treatment for dehydration.
Netanyahu also underwent a routine colonoscopy in May and prostate surgery in December. Both times, Justice Minister Yariv Levin served as acting Prime Minister while Netanyahu was sedated.
In March, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery under full anesthesia and later missed work due to the flu. In 2023, he had a pacemaker implanted after doctors diagnosed a long-standing heart conduction problem. That surgery came days after he was hospitalized for dehydration, though doctors later linked the incident to an undiagnosed heart issue.
Following the prostate surgery, Netanyahu made headlines when he left the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center over the objections of his doctors to personally cast his vote over the “Trapped Profits Law.” It passed by a vote of 59-58. Netanyahu was accompanied by Berkowitz in the plenum.
Netanyahu’s most recent public medical report, issued in January 2023, described him as in a “completely normal state of health,” with no signs of arrhythmia and the pacemaker functioning properly. The document, however, was not an official government health report but rather a summary compiled by his personal medical team.
Netanyahu will be required to testify three times a week in his corruption trial beginning in November, after the Jerusalem District Court rejected a request from his lawyers to maintain the current schedule. Judges ruled in September that hearings will be held four times a week in total, citing the need to accelerate proceedings that have already stretched on for years.
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