Palestinian reports were conflicting early Thursday on whether the health of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been treated in France's Percy Military Hospital since Friday, was deteriorating or stable.
High-ranking security sources confirmed that they received news from the hospital outside Paris that Arafat's health has taken a sudden turn for the worse, but they declined to give more details.
Arafat was rushed Friday from his Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank to France via Jordan after he suffered from a severe illness.
In the meantime, the Israeli website of Haaretz quoted Mohamad Dahlan, Arafat's top security aide who accompanied him to France, as saying that Arafat was in "stable condition."
However, the website said Arafat was placed in an intensive care unit at the military hospital.
It said that only Arafat's wife Suha, who lives in Paris, and a handful of aides were informed about his condition and no visitors were allowed to see him. The hospital did not issue any statement.
Doctors earlier confirmed that Arafat was not suffering from leukemia and his health was improving. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Arafat, also confirmed earlier that Arafat's health was improving.