Illness and Death
First reports of Arafat's treatment by his doctors for what his spokesman said was the "flu" came on 25 October 2004, after he vomited during a meeting. His condition deteriorated in the following days. Following visits by other doctors, including teams from Tunisia, Jordan, and Egypt—and agreement by Israel not to block his return—Arafat was taken to France on a French government jet, and was admitted to the Percy military hospital in Clamart, a suburb of Paris. On 3 November, he had lapsed into a gradually deepening coma.
Arafat was pronounced dead at 3:30 am UTC on 11 November at the age of 75 of what French doctors called a massive haemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident. Initially, Arafat's medical records were withheld by senior Palestinian officials, and Arafat's wife refused an autopsy. French doctors also said that Arafat suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, although it is inconclusive what brought about the condition. When Arafat's death was announced, the Palestinian people went into a state of mourning, with Qur'anic mourning prayers emitted from mosque loudspeakers throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and tires burned in the streets. The Palestinian Authority and refugee camps in Lebanon declared 40 days of mourning.
Read more about this topic: Yasser Arafat
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