BICOM

Israel’s former president is in a serious condition in hospital, having suffered a major stroke yesterday.

Shimon Peres, 93, was transferred to intensive care at the Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv. The stroke caused bleeding to the brain, which doctors managed to stop last night. Peres has been sedated since then, but his personal physician and son-in-law Rafi Walden described him as being in a “stable condition” this morning.

All three of Peres’s children are at his bedside along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His son Chemi told reporters gathered outside the hospital that “there was nothing more important to my father than Israel and its people. My father is one of a kind, I am praying for him and ask all those who pray to continue to pray with us”. Israel’s Chief Rabbis also urged the public to pray for Peres.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said via social media: “Shimon, we love you and the whole country wishes you a speedy recovery.”

President Reuven Rivlin said: “I am following with concern the updates from the hospital, and pray together with the entire people for my friend Shimon’s recovery.”

Peres is considered to be one of Israel’s most distinguished statesmen. In addition to serving as President from 2007 until 2014, he was Prime Minister on two occasions and a member of 12 cabinets. As a parliamentarian, Peres enjoyed an unbroken spell in the Knesset from 1959 to 2007. He was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize having played a major role as Foreign Minister alongside then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in forging the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians in the early 1990s.

Since his retirement from the presidency, Peres has maintained a busy public schedule. He was hospitalised briefly in January, having suffered a mild heart attack. Last week, Peres underwent surgery to have an artificial pacemaker fitted.