The 93-year-old Nobel peace prize winner has been sedated and placed on respirator after suffering bleeding in the brain

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Shimon Peres, Israeli’s former president and a key figure in the country’s history, is in a medically induced coma after suffering a massive stroke on Tuesday.

Peres, aged 93, was a key architect of the Oslo peace accords, for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize. He was described as being in a serious condition at the Sheba Medical Centre at Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv.

Initial reports suggested Peres had suffered a light stroke and was conscious, but it became quickly clear that Peres was severely ill, having suffered serious bleeding in the brain.

Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, hospital director Itzik Kreiss told reporters that Peres was in an induced coma and on a respirator.

An official in Peres’ office said he underwent a CT scan, but results were not yet available.

Peres’s son Chemi was at his father’s side. He said his father’s condition was complex and that the family would “have to make decisions later on”.

“This is not an easy time for me and my family,” he told reporters gathered outside the hospital. “It all depends on what happens and we do not know more than that.”

Earlier this year, Peres was twice taken to hospital with heart problems but released soon after. His office said Peres received a pacemaker last week.

Just hours before the stroke, Peres uploaded a video to his Facebook account urging the public to buy locally made products. In the video, Peres appears somewhat weary but is otherwise alert and coherent.

However, Ayelet Frish, the former president’s communications consultant, told the Jerusalem Post that Peres had woken at his home on Tuesday “with palpitations and a feeling of constriction in his chest”. He added that Peres had complained of chest pains and breathing difficulties.

Throughout his long career, Peres has been a towering figure in the often divided and divisive world of Israeli politics despite falling short of some of his political ambitions.

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The last of Israel’s founding fathers, Peres has held nearly every major office in the country.

Born in Wiszniewo, Poland, he was a founder of the Labour-Zionist Youth Movement and was a member of the Hagana Jewish military forces before Israel declared independence.

As a defence official in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Peres was involved in the establishment of Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.

In 1994, he was awarded the Nobel peace prize along with Yitzhak Rabin and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for his role in negotiating the Oslo accords with the Palestinians – a legacy that in recent years had begun unravelling as the promise of that peace deal had foundered.



Peres has remained active since completing his seven-year term as president in 2014 and is one of the country’s most popular public figures.

In a message posted on Facebook, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wished Peres a speedy recovery. “Shimon, we love you and the entire nation wishes you get well,” he said.