Retired Mossad head Meir Dagan returned to Israel following his liver transplant in Belarus.

The operation took place Oct. 6, according to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who said his country agreed to allow the surgery after other countries had refused.

Dagan, 67, was ineligible to receive a liver in Israel because transplant patients are placed on the waiting list in Israel only up to age 65. There are 160 people on the waiting list, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Dagan received his liver from a cadaver donor, according to reports. His Israeli HMO funded the transplant.

Dagan retired last year from the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. — jta