Claim: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been admitted to the hospital after he was poisoned.
Fact: The Prime Minister was not hospitalised. Reports from international media outlets suggest that Netanyahu was advised to rest at home for three days recently due to a bout of food poisoning
On 20 July 2025, a user on X posted an image (archive) of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The post is captioned in Turkish as follows:
“İsrail Başbakanı Netenyahu zehirlenerek hastaneye kaldırılmış..
Bi şey diyonuz mu?
[Translation: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been hospitalized due to poisoning.. You guys saying anything?]”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search but found no reports of Netanyahu being poisoned by any reputable media outlets. We did, however, find multiple media reports by both Israeli and international media outlets from 20 July, the same day as the viral post, which noted the Prime Minister was hospitalised for food poisoning. His office announced the news on Sunday, 20 July, Reuters reported, adding that he will continue to perform his duties while resting at home over the subsequent three days.
The Times of Israel reported that, “Netanyahu began feeling sick overnight, says the Prime Minister’s Office, and was examined at his home by Dr. Alon Hershko, director of internal medicine department at Hadassah University Hospital,” and that “Hershko diagnosed the prime minister with intestinal inflammation resulting from eating spoiled food.”
The publication further reported that Dr. Hershko declared the Prime Minister to be in good condition after further testing, but that he required intravenous fluids due to dehydration caused by the illness. The Times also stated that in light of the illness, the Prime Minister would rest at home for three days and conduct state business from home, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s office.
Soch Fact Check found that news reports cited the cause of the illness to be spoiled food, not a deliberate poisoning. Moreover, none of these news reports mentioned statements by the Israeli government or government officials that suspected the sickness was caused by foul play.
News of the Prime Minister’s illness comes as he was expected to appear in court that week for a cross-examination in his criminal corruption trial. In 2019, Prime Minister Netanyahu was indicted on three charges of corruption, namely bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, by Israel’s Attorney General. This came months after Israeli police investigated Netanyahu and recommended his indictment.
In response to his illness, the prosecution requested alternative dates, but none were set. Additionally, since the courts begin their summer recess the next Monday, the next hearing in the trial will not take place until September, according to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz.
Soch Fact Check conducted a thorough search of official Israeli government sources, including the Government of Israel’s official Prime Minister’s Office announcements page, the Prime Minister’s official X account, and the Government of Israel’s news page. We also checked credible international news outlets, including Al Jazeera and Reuters, and Israeli outlets like The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel, but found no reports that even remotely speculate a deliberate poisoning attempt or mention of an investigation looking into this concern.
Additionally, the claim that Netanyahu was critically ill or hospitalised is not true, as the Prime Minister’s office statement, reported by multiple outlets, said the Prime Minister was directed to rest at home, adding that he was healthy and well enough to conduct state affairs from home.
Notably, several of the posts claiming the Prime Minister was critically ill and speculating that the poisoning was intentional used an AI-generated image of Netanyahu that has circulated several times online and was fact-checked by Soch Fact Check back in April 2024.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claims on X here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Reports by international media outlets suggest that the Israeli Prime Minister was recently ill due to a bout of food poisoning. The reports did not mention that Netanyahu was hospitalised. Instead, they cited a statement by the Prime Minister’s office from 20 July, which said that the Israeli PM would continue to carry out his duties while resting at home.
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