Ramallah official says Abbas healthy, working normal hours

An official in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s office is denying a report on Israel’s Channel 10 News that the Palestinian leader’s health has significantly deteriorated in recent weeks.

“The president has been coming to work regularly. He has been coming to work for four hours in the morning and early afternoon and then again in the evening for five hours.”

Channel 10 had reported that Abbas, 83, could only muster two hours of work a day.

The official says Abbas had been ill when he spent 10 days hospitalized in the spring, but has been re-energized since attending the World Cup.

“He fell ill in May. But since just before he went to Russia to meet President Putin in June, his health has improved tremendously. It has been business as usual in recent weeks,” the official says.

— Adam Rasgon