Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained in critical but stable condition today following emergency surgery to remove a section of a damaged intestine, Hadassah hospital said.
In an update on Mr Sharon, comatose since a stroke early last month, the hospital said he was still in its intensive care unit.
"After the surgery the prime minister underwent yesterday his condition stabilised," said Yael Bossem-Levy, a hospital spokeswoman. "His condition is now listed as very critical but stable."
Doctors removed 50 centimetres (20 inches), or a third, of Mr Sharon's large intestine, in a four-hour operation yesterday after spotting damage caused by restricted blood flow to his digestive tract.
Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Hadassah Hospital, said that while the surgery went well and Mr Sharon was out of immediate danger, the main problem remained his continuing state of unconsciousness.
Medical experts hold little hope for the 77-year-old leader's recovery after a massive brain haemorrhage on January 4.
After the stroke, Ehud Olmert was named interim prime minister ahead of a March 28 general election.
Olmert stepped swiftly into the shoes of the former general who dominated the Middle East scene for decades, pledging to press ahead with Mr Sharon's tough security policies and threatening to set Israel's final borders unilaterally if peacemaking with the Palestinians remained frozen.