London, July 1 (IANS): Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was smuggled into hospital twice during the country's elections earlier this year for secret cancer checks, it has been claimed.

The 65-year-old leader was apparently bundled inside a pita bread delivery truck for one set of tests, then taken in a pet control van for the second, with guards dressed up as exterminators, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.

Netanyahu was taken to an "out of the way" medical centre in the Bnei Brak suburb of the capital Tel Aviv for checks on an enlarged prostate, it was reported.

The checks happened both before and after the country's March 17 elections, though nothing sinister was found, according to the country's Channel 2 television station.

Tzvi Berkovitz, personal physician to Nethanyahu, told The Times that the leader underwent routine checks and remained in "very good health".

According to Channel 2, Nethanyahu was treated by doctors Yigal Gatt and Menachem Goren.

While it is not clear why Nethanyahu chose to keep the visits a secret, it could be because the two doctors he visited have developed a treatment for enlarged prostates that was currently banned by Israel's ministry of health.

However, it could also be because Netanyahu wanted to avoid looking weak during a period of coalition building after the election.

It was likely that if the long-standing leader's political opponents became aware of his health problems they would have used them to present him as a "lame duck" incapable of leadership, the report said.