stroke", officials and Israeli media reported.
Sharon, 77, lost consciousness before being rushed to hospital, but has since regained consciousness, several reports said.
In published remarks, Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem said that Sharon was awake and undergoing medical tests. Israeli television said the prime minister, who is extremely overweight, suffered "a minor stroke."
Sharon is not known to have had serious health problems in recent years and the the hospital said his "life was not in danger" and that he was undergoing unspecified tests.
SECURITY CORDON
The Prime Minister’s office reportedly said he had complained of feeling unwell before he was taken to hospital. A security cordon was reportedly placed around the hospital before he arrived.
His reported stroke came after stressful weeks of security challenges for the veteran politician and his involvement in a new party.
Sharon oversaw Israeli military actions against several suspected militants since a Palestinian
suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded dozens outside a shopping mall in the
Israeli coastal town Netanya on December 5. Israeli forces said they were also targeting areas used by activists to fire locally-made rockets against Israel.
STRIKES BEFORE HOSPITILIZATION
Just hours before Sharon was rushed to hospital, the Israeli army reportedly killed a Palestinian gunman in the Gaza Strip as Israeli war planes launched 15 air raids over the area.
Earlier in the week, Israeli missiles fired from the air ripped apart two cars in the Gaza Strip killing four Palestinian militants and wounding five other people, including an Islamic Jihad spokesman, the military and Palestinians said.
Sharon also tried to raise international support for Israel as a nation after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aggravated tensions last week by calling the Nazi Holocaust a "myth," two months after he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
GERMAN CHANCELLOR
A visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Israel next month was to show international condemnation of the remarks. It was unclear Sunday, December 18, whether Sharon’s apparent health problems would be an obstacle for that meeting to go ahead as scheduled.
At the same time Israel’s prime minister has tried to contain a political fire by reportedly denying allegations that he would be willing to assist the establishment of a Palestinian state by conceding 90% of the West Bank and compromising on east Jerusalem.
Sharon, who has been prime minister since 2001, also announced he was leaving the right-wing Likud party he helped found to start the more moderate Kadima (Forward) party, which has drawn supporters from both right and left. Opinion polls suggested that Kadima will likely win the upcoming elections scheduled for March next year. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Israel).
