Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was announced dead on Thursday at the age of 75.

In a short statement delivered in French, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told reporters that "officially, he is dead."

Separately, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a top Arafat aide, confirmed Arafat had died at 4:30 a.m. Paris time. He spoke to reporters at Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Arafat was flown to France late last month for health reasons after nearly three years of being holed up in his West Bank headquarters surrounded by Israeli forces.

Founder of the initial Fatah guerilla movement, Arafat took the helm of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969 to transform it into a dynamic force that made the Palestinian cause of seeking statehood known to the world.