function deteriorated, Israeli officials said. Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a major stroke in January, contracted a new infection "that affected his heart," The Jerusalem Post online edition quoted David Weinberg, a spokesman for the Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. "At this point, his condition is stable," Weinberg said.
Sharon had an initial minor stroke in December and was put on blood thinners before experiencing a severe brain hemorrhage on January 4. After spending months in the Jerusalem hospital where he was initially treated, Sharon was transferred to the long-term care facility at Sheba hospital in May.
IN COMA
Sharon into a coma shortly after he ended Israel’s 38-year continues military presence in the Gaza Strip, and launched the centrist Kadima party, now headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. That party shook Israel’s political map by including his own more hard-line Likud Party, but was recently questioned over its handling of the conflict in Lebanon.
News of the apparently deteriorating situation of the former warrior the hospital’s fight to keep him alive came as Israel was dealing with another battle in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s military returned Friday, November 3, to end what it said
were rocket attacks.
Israeli troops reportedly battled Palestinian militants into the early hours of Friday morning, November 3, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing five militants overnight and threatening to bulldoze houses from which shots were being fired. In a separate operation, an air strike on a car in Gaza City killed three members of the militant group Hamas traveling inside, one of them a local militant commander, The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted witnesses said.
MILITANTS KILLED
A total of 20 Palestinians, mostly militants, have been killed in and around the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun since Wednesday, November 1, when Israeli attack helicopters, tanks and ground troops launched the military’s biggest push in months to stop Palestinian rocket fire, news reports said.
A siege at a mosque in Beit Hanoun ended Friday, November 3 after Israeli forces entered the compound and found no-one there, Israel’s army said. The Israeli military said however that a dozen Palestinian gunmen escaped by mingling with a crowd of women who had formed a human shield after appeals by a local Hamas radio station. Two women
were reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire, but that report could not immediately be confirmed.
Christian groups supporting Israel have been involved in prayer initiatives for the Jewish state where they see a growing crisis emerging. (With reports from Israel and BosNewsLife Research).
