Netanyahu thanks well wishers as he resumes PM powers post successful hernia surgery

Doctors say the prime minister should have a full recovery and can be expected to return to full duties by end of the week.

By HERB KEINON, TOVAH LAZAROFF, REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner )
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner )
                   
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu regained his full authority as prime minister Sunday morning after undergoing a successful emergency hernia operation in the middle of the night.
Netanyahu issued a statement thanking the medical team that carried out the operation, and to those citizens who wished him a speedy recovery.
The decision to return full powers to Netanyahu after the surgery was taken following a conversation between Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mendelblit and Dr. Yuval Weiss, the director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
Defense Minister Moseh Ya'alon was acting prime minister during the few hours of Netanyahu's incapacitation.
The prime minister is expected to be released from the hospital Sunday afternoon, and return to his regular duties by the end of the week.
Netanyahu's emergency hernia surgery at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem Saturday overnight was successfully completed early Sunday morning.
Director of the hospital, Dr. Yuval Weiss, said the operation performed on Netanyahu was successful. "Netanyahu has been transferred to the recovery unit. He is feeling good, and we hope to release him by noon," said Dr. Weiss.
Netanyahu's personal physician, Dr. Tzvi Berkovich vouched for his good health saying that he is "in good general condition and will surely return to work quickly."
The procedure took one hour, as the hospital predicted, and shortly after the surgery was completed, Netanyahu was transferred to a recovery area. A full recovery is expected to take no more than a few hours.
The prime minister, 63, was examined by Dr. Berkovich and by expert surgeon Arie Durst after complaining of abdominal pain on Saturday evening. The initial diagnosis was fear of an umbilical hernia.
The diagnosis was confirmed after the prime minister underwent a CT scan and it was decided to operate immediately.
The chief surgeon operating on Netanyahu was Professor Aviram Nissan, head of the surgical department at Hadassah Ein Kerem.
Netanyahu had been scheduled to convene cabinet ministers on Sunday to finalize the first stage of a release of Palestinian security prisoners designed to foster peace talks revived last month by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The prime minister's office said that while Sunday's routine cabinet session would be postponed, a ministerial committee vetting the prisoner amnesty would still meet on Sunday, chaired by Ya'alon.
A second round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that is scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Jerusalem, will go ahead as planned.