Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who is under intensive care in a Paris hospital has slipped into a deeper coma, said the hospital on Tuesday.

His health condition worsened overnight, Sky News quoted hospital spokesman Christian Estripeau as saying.

"This marks a significant step toward a development which can not yet be determined," he said.

Arafat, 75, was transferred to the Percy Military Hospital outside Paris on Oct. 29 after his health condition sharply deteriorated in his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

There has been a news blackout about Arafat's real condition, while only hospital doctors and Mrs. Arafat have access to the veteran leader.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, the Palestine Liberation Organization's No. 2 Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and parliament chief Rawhi Fatouh who arrived in Paris late on Monday will meet Arafat if admitted.