Funeral ceremony held for Palestinian official Saeb Erekat

Saeb Erekat's body was brought on Wednesday morning to the Presidential Palace in Ramallah for a farewell ceremony attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

Erekat, a veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades, died on Tuesday, weeks after being infected by the coronavirus. He was 65.

His body will be laid to rest later Wednesday in his hometown Jericho.

Erekat died at the Hadassah Medical Centre, the Israeli hospital where he was brought in critical condition last month.

He had received a lung transplant in the U.S. in 2017 and was at especially high risk from the virus.

Abbas said Erekat's death was a "great loss for Palestine and our people, and we feel deeply saddened by his loss, especially in light of these difficult circumstances facing the Palestinian cause."