The Jerusalem court hearing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has postponed hearings set for next week as Netanyahu undergoes a prostate operation on Sunday.

The hearings will now be held on January 6 and subsequent days.

Mr Netanyahu is charged with fraud, embezzlement and bribery.

The accusations against him include that he granted the telecom giant Bezeq privileges when he was communications minister.

He is also said to have accepted luxury gifts from billionaire friends.

At an initial hearing on Dec. 10, he rejected the allegations as “absurd.”

It is the first time that an incumbent prime minister has stood trial in Israel.

The court case could last for several more years.

Mr Netanyahu is expected to testify three times a week for about two months.

He recently excused his absence with a visit to troops on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

His office announced on Saturday that he would undergo an operation for an enlarged prostate.

The operation is to take place under general anaesthesia.

It is not his first health procedure. Mr Netanyahu underwent an operation for a hernia at the end of March and in the summer of last year, was fitted with a pacemaker.

(dpa/NAN)