Sharon in hospital after 'stroke'

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was taken to hospital in Jerusalem tonight after feeling unwell while working in his office.

A TV report said he suffered a minor stroke.

Roads around the Hadassah Hospital were closed before Sharon, 77, arrived in his official vehicle.

Officials in Sharon’s office said he was taken to the hospital because he felt weak. One said he lost consciousness on the way to the hospital but quickly regained consciousness.

He was taken directly to the emergency room of the hospital.

Channel 10 quoted unnamed hospital sources as saying that he apparently suffered a minor stroke.

Channel 2 TV said he was taken into the hospital on a stretcher.

Hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy said Sharon was undergoing tests, She would not give additional details but added that as far as she knew, Sharon was conscious.

Sharon has served as Israel’s Prime Minister since 2000.

Last summer, he directed Israel’s historic pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.

The action splintered his Likud Party and he recently quit the party and founded a new one, called Kadima, ahead of elections on March 28.

Polls show Sharon’s new party would finish far ahead of other parties, all but guaranteeing that he would form the next government and remain prime minister.

Sharon’s health and age have always lurked in the background of his term as Prime Minister.

The ex-army general is extremely overweight and turns 78 on February 28. He has never released his medical records but has insisted in recent years that he is not suffering from any serious ailments.